Guilty
by Seirei no Ryuu
Summary: I am a Hunter, dedicating my life to destroying the monsters we call vampires. I'm searching especially for the one that destroyed my family, the one with red eyes and three comma-like pupils. Hiatus
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: _Naruto _belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. **

* * *

Prologue

"Yuuki! Take her and hide!"

A door swung open and a seven-year-old girl was shoved inside a dark room. A crash was heard.

"What's happening? Is Papa all right?" the girl asked frantically.

Yuuki looked back at her child, fright shining in her green eyes. It was a simple question, yet so hard to answer. She barely knew what was going on, and she didn't know if her husband, Hatori, was all right.

Another crash came, and then blood-curdling screams filled the air.

"Papa!" The girl ran out of the cellar, but her mother stopped her from going any further.

"No!" Yuuki felt goose bumps run across her body as another scream came from her husband. "No matter what happens, I want you to stay here. Don't open the door and don't go out." She turned and began to walk away.

The little girl grabbed her mother's hand and pulled her back. "Don't leave me, Mama! I-I'm scared!" She buried her face in Yuuki's clothes, muffling her sobs.

Gently, Yuuki pushed her daughter away. "I'll always be with you, Sakura, I promise." She wiped her daughter's tear-stained face. "But can you promise me to be brave?"

The child sniffed, nodded, and put on her best brave face.

Yuuki smiled and gave her a kiss. "Stay here." She closed the door and left.

The girl stood in the dark, facing the cellar door. She shuffled to the side and sat down, hugging her knees. Everything was silent. Everything was calm. Soon, everything would be okay, and her mother and father would come back to the cellar for her and they could forget this terrible night. She just needed to be brave . . . .

Suddenly, there was banging, then screams, followed by more banging. She could feel the vibrations echoing into the basement. She slammed her little hands over her ears and her cries mingled with her parents.

It could have been hours, or it could have been moments later, the girl didn't know. Stifling her sobs, she crawled out of the basement and quietly rounded a corner. It took a while for her eyes to adjust, but when they did, the sight horrified her.

Her parents were lying on the ground, their limbs bent at almost impossible angles. Her father's mouth was foaming, and only the whites of his eyes were visible. Her mother was covered in a dark liquid that oozed from her neck and was matted into her pink hair.

"Papa?" She looked at her father, who gave a slight twitch. "Mama?" Her mother lay unresponsive.

A figure emerged from the shadows, looming over Yuuki and Hatori. A quick squeak escaped her mouth and she immediately hid, barely controlling her trembles as the figure's eyes scanned for the source of the squeak. He turned away and jumped out of the window. The girl could not see his identity because he was shrouded in darkness, but there was one detail she could pick up: Red eyes with three comma-like pupils.

**I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in a long time. One would expect someone to update at least **_**once **_**during the summer, but I didn't, and school started too. I feel so lame. Anyways, I'm reuploading ch 1-6 because I felt like the editing process could have gone better so I had my beta look at it. So there's some little bits of changes here and there. I'll upload the others including a new one very soon.**

**Thank you my beta, xXAsuka-chanXx!**


	2. Part 1

Part 1

It was night time. A warm summer breeze filtered through the trees, carrying the heavy stench of blood. I sat on a branch, my mask in my hand as I waited for it to come.

Out of the bushes, a brutally ugly beast sprung out, followed by a boy around my age with white wolves at his heels. I put my mask on and dived down. The beast skidded to a halt when I landed in front of it, and the wolves tackled it to the ground. It tried to free itself from the wolves by snapping at one of its legs, but the beast's fangs passed through ink that quickly reformed into a leg.

I approached the creature and plunged my knife into its heart. It shuddered and opened its mouth to scream, but the body froze and crumbled into many pieces before a sound came out.

"Good work, Sakura," said my partner as he removed his mask, showing his fake and emotionless smile. His name is Sai and he is a member of the Hunters, an organization dedicated to protecting humans from the beast we call vampires. I too am a Hunter and what was killed was, of course, a vampire.

"I'll report to the Council," Sai said.

"It's okay, I'll report it, " I said, searching through the shattered body for my knife. The Council are the leaders of the Hunters. They assign, receive reports, and oversaw the teaching of the Hunters. "You've worked too hard." I added

Me and Sai made our way back to the hotel, then the next day we boarded a train. I rested my elbow on the arm rest and laid my chin on top, staring at the window as things moved by. I chanced a glance as Sai, and he smiled. I knew it was fake, but I smiled back. I never knew why Sai was part of the Hunters. Maybe it was because he didn't have emotions to tell him his purpose. No one else in the society has emotions either. It was sad to see my friend numb to feelings and to not have a purpose other than to kill pitiful creatures.

But I'm different. I have emotions, and a purpose. I want to find the monster that hurt my parents ten years ago. I heard about vampires and that there may be a family out there that has the eyes that I saw that night, and if I'm lucky, I could find him and destroy him for what he did. I want to find that person and to know why. What happened in the past drives me to find him, to know the truth of why he attacked our house, brutally hurt my father, and slashed the throat of my mother . . . .

The train gave a sudden lurch and I jolted in my seat.

"Sakura, you were daydreaming again," said Sai as he retrieved his bag.

"Sorry," I muttered.

As soon as I had my stuff, me and Sai got off the train and made our way out of the train station. I took a deep breath of the city Cazom. Cazom is where the Council and the Hunters live. This place is very boring. Since the Hunters are trained to not have any feelings and the Council is very busy with the vampires, there is nothing to do when a Hunter is off duty, and the streets are often empty, as they are now.

"Goodbye, Sakura," said Sai as he pushed open his apartment door. I returned his goodbye and continued walking.

I approached the biggest building in the city and entered. A receptionist was sitting on the far right corner, her legs on her desk, talking on the phone and chewing her gum loudly. She gave me a look from behind her glasses and I showed her my Hunter dog tag. She returned back to her conversation and I marched towards the escalators. When I reached the very top, I lightly rapped on the door.

"Enter," a voice echoed.

I took a deep breath, placed my belongings to the side, and slipped my mask on. The room was dark, lit only by two small lights, one that shined on empty space, and the other that shined on three people: The Council.

I stepped into the first light and crouched in a bow. "I am Hunter 012601, and I have come to give you my report." I told the Council of our success and even provided a sample of the shattered body I gathered while searching for my knife.

"Has there been any injuries?" asked one of the Council. I looked up and figured that it was the man on the left, Mitokodo Homura, who spoke.

"No sir. No one was hurt, " I replied, "and even if me or my partner was, I would immediately tend to any injuries."

The man nodded his head and leaned back in his chair. The old woman named Utatane Koharu, who sat on his far right, spoke. "Were there any other vampire sightings in that area?"

"No, just that one." And she too relaxed.

"Very well. Dismissed, " said the one in the center, Danzo, the Council's leader. I stood up and left the room, not saying anymore.

* * *

A couple days later, as I was passing by the main building, there was a crowd of Hunters around the bulletin board, most of them were teenagers like me. Curious, I strode over for a look. It surprised me that a lot of the Hunters had glimmers of excitement — probably the first they ever had in their eyes.

Still amazed at their semi-excitement, I took a closer look at what they were all gathered around and saw that it was nothing more than a sign-up sheet for an assignment. Already it was chock full of Hunter IDs, but then again so were all the other assignment requests.

I considered signing up for it myself, but when I read that it involved going to a highschool and investigating a rumor of a vampire attending, I declined.

Sai came up beside me and looked at the bulletin board. He turned to me and asked, "Are you going to register for the assignment?" flashing his trademark fake smile.

"No," I replied flatly. "I think it's a waste of time."

He just nodded and waited for some of the Hunters to clear out before writing his identification number. Sai asked me if there were any other assignments I wanted to to do, and after pointing them out, he wrote my ID.

Three weeks later, I checked my mailbox waiting for its usual emptiness. Instead, I was greeted by a thin envelope. I plucked it out of my mailbox and ripped the top off. It was an assignment from the Council and all it said was to go to the Council tonight. I stuck the letter on the refrigerator, and later that night, took my mask and a jacket.

As I entered the Council building, a new receptionist stood there watching me. I showed him my dog tag as I had to the other one, and strode to the escalator as soon as I got the signal to go on.

I knocked on the door and the same voice said, "Enter."

The Council sat in their same spots, as if they had never moved. I put on my mask and stepped into the light, bowing low. "Hunter 012601."

"Yes, we have called for you," said Danzo. "We, the Council, have chosen you for the Konoha Academy assignment."

"Konoha Academy?" I repeated, dumbfounded.

"The assignment that involves you, the Hunter, going into a mere human school, and finding the identity of a supposed vampire," said Koharu, clearly irritated that she had to tell me the details.

Oh, that assignment.

"Please remove your mask," said Homura.

I obliged, and after I removed it, the old woman gasped. Homura's eye lids rose, but he did not show any further surprise.

"Danzo-sama! You can't possibly be thinking of sending _her_!" the old woman squawked. She pointed a wrinkled finger at me. "She's too noticeable and she barely passed the emotions test. What if she gets carried away, and what if she develops an attachment or —"

Danzo held up a hand in silence. "It's true that she did not get the best scores in the emotions test, and she is constantly seen with Hunter 012420."

_**Well, I seem to be getting along well with my emotions, and on top of all that, I've got some of the best scores in all the other areas! **_the Inner side if me retorted

"But it's because of her inability to suppress her emotions that makes her the best choice to go on this assignment."

I was surprised by this comment, so surprised that even my Inner stopped in her rants.

"Really, Danzo-sama?" prompted Homura, "and why's that?"

"It is because she is the most natural out of all the Hunters." Danzo rested his one good arm on his lap and continued, "She will be able to adapt to Konoha academy and be the most inconspicuous."

I was confused. Did that mean the vampires know that the Hunter society was sending in one of their own?

"Danzo-sama," I began, bowing once again, "do the vampires know you plan on sending a Hunter?"

"Yes," Danzo's answer made me jerk my head up slightly. "They, however, do not know it is _you_ we are sending."

"The vampires have a limited amount of knowledge on our intentions as do we have on theirs," said Koharu. "We only know that the vampire they sent was on an investigation mission. We don't know what it is investigating or if it's still there."

And that is where a Hunter comes in. If the leech was still there, then all the students were in danger. If a Hunter like me was around, and figured out its identity, then I could eliminate it from being a danger to all the students. It would also eliminate any more broken families . . . .

As if reading my mind, the old woman spoke. "There is one condition: You cannot kill the vampire as soon as you find it."

Disappointment washed over me, but I thought if something else. "But then what if the vampire attacks one of the students?"

The Council stared at me as if I were new to the organization. It was a moment before I got my answer, but I already knew it.

"Then by all means, eliminate it," they said.

I could have almost laughed as a smirk spread across my mouth. I wasn't being dumb. The answer was so obvious. _Any vampire that was a threat to humans, we as Hunters destroy it._ That was our code, imprinted into our minds from the first day we join, to our very last breath.

"Do you accept the mission?" Danzo asked.

"Yes."

Danzo nodded. "Good. Go to the weaponry center on August thirtieth for the tools we deem the most helpful for this assignment, and the assignment starts September seventh, the first day of the Konoha Academy new school term. Dismissed."

As soon as I was out of the main building, I was struck with regret. I had just agreed to attend a school where I will stay for two hundred plus days while trying to figure out the identity of a vampire who may or may not be there.

_**Great. Just great, Sakura.**_

_I know._

_

* * *

_

August thirtieth came, and I found myself waiting by the weaponry center. Danzo came and unbolted the door.

"Come," he said, stepping inside.

I followed him into a room that was dimly lit by a small light. The room was covered with shelves of assorted weapons from wooden stakes to guns. The most common was a stake, just a cheap piece of pointed wood. The other weapons were a different matter. Each had a special spell put on them used for vampires. A scratch from a knife or a bullet with the spell, and any vampire would be critically injured.

Danzo scanned through the shelves, picking up deadly artifacts and placing them on a round table in the center, or returning them to their spot. When he was done, there was an assortment of throwing knives, a phone, a laptop, and a small, rugged looking sack.

Danzo pointed at the knives. "Standard kunai and shuriken," then at the phone, "a camera is built into this that is specialized to capture the image of a vampire."

I nodded.

"This computer has access to our website. We want you to send us triweekly reports with the data you've gathered during your stay in Konoha Academy."

I picked up the little computer and turned it on. Immediately, the screen flashed the Hunter website with a log-in at the top right. I turned it off and placed it back on the table.

Danzo asked me to untie the sack, and inside was what looked like a dagger.

"Unlock," he murmured.

The dagger suddenly popped into a long katana, almost making me drop it. The blade grew almost two feet from its original form and grew heavier then before. I swung it around to test it before placing it back on the table.

"Lock," murmured Danzo, and the blade instantly snapped back into its original form. He picked it up and laid it on top of the sack. "A retractable sword. Keep it hidden, and use it well."

"Thank you." I clutched all of my knew weapons.

"For this assignment, you will be going as your birth name, Haruno Sakura."

I nodded. I have gone under many names: Anna, Maya, Hikari, Ling, but never my real name. I guess they're using my real name in case someone tries to look me up, they would not come across a dead-end and find out that whatever pseudonym I went as was fake.

On September fifth, the day I was to leave Cazom for Konoha Academy, I paid a visit to my father.

"Hi, Dad. I'm sorry I haven't been able to visit lately; I've just been so busy."

He reached out for me, but his blanket was still in his hand and when he opened it, the blanket fell completely off. I picked it up and relaid it over him, flattening out any folds. After that night, Hatori was left mentally insane. I always wondered how this happened; was it the death of my mom, or was it the result of torture? Was it possible to reverse this? I laid my hand on my father's, rubbing his knuckles.

"Dad, I'm gonna be gone for awhile again," I said. "The Council is sending me to infiltrate a school and pose as a student" — I hesitated, squeezing his hand — "I won't be back for another year."

Me and my father stayed in silence, unmoving. I grew conscious of the time way to soon and released Hatori's hand. As I was about to leave his side, his hand grabbed mine, holding me in my place. Hatori remained unresponsive and I quietly slipped his hand off, laying it gently across his lap. I kissed his forehead and said, "Goodbye, I'll miss you, Papa."

When I was back in my apartment, I gave a last minute check to make sure I had everything. After that, I slung on my backpack and rolled my suitcase out of my apartment. The door locked and my key turned in to the landlord, I made my way to the train station. I gave Cazom one final look before it disappeared.

* * *

**Cazom is a variation of the word _cazar _which means "To Hunt" in spanish.**

**You guys are probably wondering why I didn't update during the summer. Well, I was busy writing and typing new chapters; I'm the slowest typer in history. Then there was problems when I sent everything to my beta, plus I was reading/watching Soul Eater, one of the best mangas I've ever read. I highly - HIGHLY- recommend reading it. I can't decide if I'm a SoulxMaka fan or KidxMaka. D:**

**Thanks again to my awesome beta, xXAsuka-chanXx!  
**


	3. Part 2

Part 2

Konoha Academy was a big school.

The building had five floors, with the exception of the rooms underground. Each half of each floor was dedicated to one of the main subjects. To its right was the school dormitories, separated by a semi-busy road and connected by a glass sky-bridge.

The dorm I got was a single person dorm. The Hunter society paid the school for me to have single room so no curious roommates could take a look at what my true purpose here was. Though I wouldn't say it, I would rather have a meddling roommate then an empty dormitory.

There was also a uniform requirement. There were three top sets, each with the school's crest on the right breast: A black blazer for winter, a blue sweater for the spring and fall, and a plain white collared t-shirt with a black tie that is worn under everything else or for the summer. For girls, we had a black skirt while guys had black pants. Shoes were just penny loafers and there were black knee socks that came with the girls' uniform.

The first day of school was awfully lonely too. It turns out that in my grade (juniors, if you must know), there are one-hundred thirty of us, and everyone groups together in their own little cliques.

Being the newest of my class, however, I get my first invite on the first day.

"Hi," said a high pitched voice loudly.

I looked around my locker door to see a girl standing there, beaming at me. She had long, bright blond hair tied up in a ponytail, and long side bangs that covered her right eye.

"Hi," I said, breaking out a fake smile.

The girl seemed to be fooled enough by my unsure smile, for her eyes sparkled. "New girl —"

"Haruno Sakura," I corrected, but she ignored me.

"— would you like to join us?" The girl pointed to a group of girls by a couple lockers. They all glared at me and the blue-eyed girl looked at me in disapproval.

"Er . . . thanks. I'll think about it."

Disappointment washed over her, but she quickly perked back up. "Okay. My name is Yamanaka Ino by the way."

A Yamanaka, eh?

The girl left to join the her friends. I flipped out the special camera phone and took a quick picture of Ino. I received a couple of stares from other students, but I completely ignored them as I headed to my first class.

* * *

It turns out that at this school, there are many familiar names. Familiar _vampire _clan names to be exact. By the end of the first three days, I had found two other vampires names and added them along with Yamanaka. By the end of the first week, I had a total of six names and pictures. Any one of the kids could be the vampire, and how many more vampire family names are there at this school? The Council should have told me about this.

I walked to my locker and took out my Chemistry stuff after I put away my English ones. Before I closed the door, I heard Yamanaka Ino's voice.

"Did you finish it, No Soul?" Ino said in a very different tone she used to address me.

"H-hai, Ino-sama," a small voice squeaked. There was a shuffling of papers and a girl with long dark hair presented a roll of paper to Ino. I recognized the girl from one of my classes, but I can't remember her name or which class she is in.

Yamanaka swiped the scroll from the stuttering girl and looked over it. "This had better get me an A in History," she threatened. Then her mouth curved into a malicious smile. "If not, you know what happens, right girls?"

I closed my locker and marched towards them. "You have your History project, just go."

The girls stared at me. "What are you saying?" asked one of the girls. "You can't possibly be trying to defend No Soul over here?"

Yamanaka stepped to the front. "Sakura, if you want to pass through Konoha with flying colors, then back off, and don't lower yourself to girls like her." Ino swung her hand at the trembling girl and knocked all of her papers and books to the floor.

"You got your project, now go," I said coolly.

Ino and her posse shuffled past us, some bumping me with their shoulders while some trampled over No Soul's papers, who had kneeled down and began gathering them. Once the clacking sound of their footsteps grew faint, I crouched down and began to round up the papers.

"Y-you didn't have to do that, you know," the girl said in her quiet voice.

I lifted my eyes to her and almost jumped. Only Hyuugas have that pale lavender color in their eyes.

"My-my name is Hyuuga H-Hinata by the way," she introduced.

I froze for a split second then picked up the paper that lay in front of my outstretched hand. "Here you go," I said, handing her the papers and smiling. "It was nothing, and my name is Haruno Sakura."

Hinata blushed and took a sudden interest in the floor. The Hyuugas are a family of vampires that we Hunters frequently face off against. It is possible that the Hyuugas sent her, but for what purpose? Still holding my fake smile, I watched as her eyes looked everywhere minus my face.

"You have Ch-Chemistry next?" she asked.

"Yes," I replied, looking at my text book. "With Gai-sensei."

"Oh great! I have that class next too. We could walk there together . . . ." She looked at the floor and her voice grew very quiet. "If-if you're okay with that."

I raised my eyebrow. Hyuuga Hinata is certainly not as confident as any of the Hyuugas I ever fought with. But maybe I could use this walk to understand her a little more. "I don't mind," I said.

From our short walk to the Science wing, I learned that Hyuuga Hinata is a very shy girl. Twice, I had tried to strike up a conversation, but each time Hyuuga spoke, it seemed she thought she was speaking too much and her words would fade into an incomplete sentence.

In the Chemistry classroom, while waiting for the final passing bell, I got a picture of her. I made sure she was facing me, and I made sure to be as inconspicuous as possible. After the final bell, I stored the phone in my pencil case.

During class, as I sat in my seat that was the second row in the back, listening to Gai's ramblings on the elements of youth, I could feel a pair of eyes boring into my back. The owner of these eyes belonged to a boy who sat directly behind me. I don't know his name because Gai never does roll call, and he never speaks.

I took out my phone and opened it, scowling at his reflection. What's his problem? Why can't he just stare at the bookshelf instead of my back? If only I knew his name, then maybe I could check for any vampire family background.

"Haruno! Put that phone away!" barked Gai, his chalk screeching against the board.

"Sorry." I closed the phone and put it away, but not before I saw a smirk ride across the boy's face.

I endured another twenty minutes of Chemistry before the bell rung. As the students filed out of the classroom, Hinata was still there, sorting out some messy papers. The boy who sat behind me stood up and approached the teacher's desk. I gathered my stuff and walked over to the back corner of the room where Hinata sat.

"Hinata-san, can I ask you something?" I pointed towards the boy and Gai, "Who's that boy over there?"

Hyuuga looked around then answered, "That's U-Uchiha Sasuke."

Uchiha Sasuke murmured something quietly to Gai and briskly walked out the room.

"Thank you," I said to Hinata, then followed after Uchiha Sasuke. I remembered the name Uchiha back when I was learning to become a Hunter.

I almost had to run to keep up with his pace. We reached the quieter halls of the school. I took out a pen and threw it at his head and ducked into an off shooting corridor. Uchiha swung his head around to look for whoever threw the pen that hit his head, then quickly continued his way back to class. That was enough time for me to get a picture, and this time, a smirk rode across my face.

Later the next week, I had all the pictures developed at the nearby drugstore. My dorm had a large cork board, so I bought a box of thumb tacks too.

Back at my dorm, I turned on the laptop and logged in to the Hunter website. I clicked the _Create Message _button and typed:

**I've created a list of students who have the same surnames as some of the vampire clans**

I took out the memory chip from the phone and uploaded the pictures into the report, then wrote:

**Currently narrowing down suspects.**

**Hunter 012601**

I clicked _Send _, and once the screen showed me the message was sent, I moved over to the archive files. These files held executed, imprisoned, wanted, and clan files on vampires. Their meant as easy access to Hunters. I searched for the clan names in the files and only came up with Hyuuga, Uchiha, and Sarutobi. I remembered that I brought a book containing the time line of numerous clans from my apartment back at Cazom and took that out.

Hours went by, and before I knew it, it was one o'clock in the morning. Thankfully, I was all done with my research. I had found out that the Yamanaka, Akimichi, and Nara clans have gone extinct; animals are repulsed by vampires and I always see Aburame Shino with bugs, and a huge dog jumped on Inuzuka Kiba and slobbered all over him. The last two Sarutobis were in quarantine back in Cazom. These kids just happened to have the same name or are the human counterparts of these clans.

Before I let myself collapse with sweet sleep, I tacked two pictures on my cork board: The stuttering Hyuuga Hinata, and the quiet Uchiha Sasuke. I placed my hands on my hips and smirked; I now have my two main suspects.

* * *

**Just so you know, until Part 6, this will be the Hinata Arc. I need it because Hinata plays an important part in Sakura's development.**

**Had this chapter fixed, apparently I mixed this up with another chapter from another story. I'm sorry for the confusion! And thanks to Starry123 for telling me (though you probably must hate me for not finding this until now)  
**

**Thank you for beta-ing (I have no idea if that's how it's spelled) , xXAsuka-chanXx!  
**


	4. Part 3

Part 3

I decided to work on the Hyuuga girl first. She was the most likely suspect, she had many features of the Hyuuga vampires, and we seem to hanging out around each other.

As I walked the stairs to my English class, Yamanaka Ino and her friends were grouped together at the door. They were crowded around Hinata again and shoving papers in her face. The poor girl could not gather those papers fast enough, and one of them wrenched her books out of her hand and angrily threw them at the wall. Other kids passed by, but they never even gave one glance at the situation that was happening at the wall.

I frowned at the behavior of the passing students, then approached the girls and said, "Leave her alone."

The girls looked at me with loathing and left. Hinata skittered to where her books were while I scooped down and picked up the other papers. I shuffled through them first, looking for Hinata's name on the papers. Once I had all of them sorted out, I walked to the nearest trash can.

"Wait, S-Sakura-san." Hinata took her papers, then as I turned to throw the others, Hinata took those too.

"Why are you taking them?" I asked, "why not just throw those away? You have enough work as it is."

Hinata stuffed all the papers into her overflowing folder and reorganized the order of her books. "I-I don't mind." Then she left.

I frowned once again. If any normal person were piled with this much work, it would take days to complete them all — unless they don't sleep. Vampires are normally nocturnal, but they can go for days without sleep. And if I recall correctly, Hinata did have bags under her eyes. I bet she skipped sleep in order to finish the work those girls ask her to do.

Chemistry came and before class started, I sat over at Hinata's table.

"Hinata-san, you need to stop doing other people's homework," I said. Her folder had tripled in size. "Look at this; you got Yamanaka Ino's homework, Suzuki Karin's, and that's just the first two on top."

The girl closed her folder and pulled it closer to her. "L-like I said: I don't mind. Th-they l-like me, I-I think."

I sighed. People who shove papers in your face and throw your belonging on the wall do not like you. _**For a vampire, she's really pathetic, **_came the Inner me. _But then again, it could be just an act._

The final bell rang, and I exhaled another sigh as I stood up. "Fine. I'll come over and help." Before she could protest, I added, "Don't say 'I don't mind' or any other excuse that will drive me away from helping you. I have History for eighth period and the Social Studies wing is close to the dormitories."

I sat in my seat and got ready to listen to Gai's senseless lectures on youth and the occasional, helpful information on the Periodic table. Almost immediately, I felt the pair of black eyes on my back. I clenched my fist, suppressing the urge to swing around and shove Uchiha Sasuke's eyeballs far into his sockets. Why can't he just look at something else? There are other girls to look at, and there was a girl who sat beside him who gawked at him constantly. Just please, _please, _stop looking at me!

_**Even if you're hot.**_

I dropped my head in the table and gave a soft groan. Typical Inner. I swear Inner me can get on my nerves.

Suigetsu, the boy who sat by me, prodded my shoulder. "Oi, you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Good. You're head slamming made me thirsty." Suigetsu took out a huge green water bottle and took huge gulps out of it. When he set down, I could've sworn it sounded empty.

Chemistry finished, and I went to History. After History, I gathered all my things and headed for the dormitories. Hinata was fast walking to her room, but I was able to catch up to her.

Unlike me, Hyuuga Hinata had roommates, and there was already a big pile of homework for her to do.

"Alright, lets get started," I said, sighing heavily.

Me and Hinata sat down and got to work. We divided the work in half, reducing the folder's total. Thankfully, all of the work was that of juniors, so I didn't need to worry about any seniors work . . . or sophomores and freshmen. After straining my eyes, roommates coming in and throwing themselves to their beds, and the constant need for me to get up and walk around, I finished my half. I leaned back in my chair, stretching my limbs and neck. "You done yet, Hinata-san?"

"J-just about." She scribbled one last answer and set it down on someone's designated pile. Hinata stretched and rubbed her eyes, then took a sip of water.

I leaned my head back and closed my eyes. All too soon, the dinner bell rang, and Hinata's roommates shuffled out of the room, chatting with each other about what's on the menu.

"Damn it," I muttered as I sat up.

A ramen cup appeared in front of me. I followed the arm whose hand was holding it to see Hinata, who gave me a sheepish smile.

"Here, I-I already heated it up for you."

I gratefully took the bowl and began scooping noodles as Hinata sat on the bed and ate hers.

"This is really good," I admitted, pointing at the ramen with my chopsticks.

"Th-thank you." She smiled.

I spun in my chair and out of curiosity, I asked, "So Hinata-san, what exactly would those girls do if you did not agree to do their homework?"

There was a long pause before Hinata answered, "Terrible things."

"Like what?" I stopped spinning.

"I-I heard once, that when they were freshmen, a-a senior refused to give them answers, and so they k-kidnapped her and made her stand in front of the whole sc-school . . . naked." She looked at the bowl, then added, "Th-that's what I heard, a-anyway."

"That's just a rumor," I scoffed, resuming my spinning and eating my ramen.

"But it looks like they-they'll do it."

"Exactly." I twirled some noodles on my chopsticks. "It just _looks _like they could. Besides, what kind of freshmen in their right mind would kidnap a senior?"

Hinata giggled and we both finished the rest of our ramen. Later, Hinata's roommates came back and dropped themselves on their beds.

"Hyuuga-san, did you get the work done?"

"H-hai," she answered quietly.

"Good," said another, "and your friend can leave too; it's getting late out."

I looked out and it truly was getting late. With a sigh, I stood up, some of my stiff joints cracking, and slung my bag on. I exited the room with Hinata behind.

"Um . . . would you like me to walk with you to your dorm?" Hinata asked.

"No, I'm okay. Besides, you look like you could use sleep."

She gave me a small smile then asked, "Then, is-is it okay if-if I c-call you Sakura-chan? You don't have to call me H-Hinata-chan, if y-you don't want, but I thought . . . ." The rest of her words turned into inaudible murmurs. She blushed, then twiddled her fingers.

I blinked with surprise. Of course, there was no way I was gonna add _'chan' _to a vampire's name, but I was humbled. "Sure, yeah."

Hinata smiled and said, "Arigatou, Sakura-chan."

"Time for you to get some sleep." I turned around and headed for my dorm. "See you tomorrow."

When I entered my dorm, I heard repeated knocks on my window. Sai was there, waving at me with his fake smile. I let him in; maybe he had some announcements from the Council.

"You have a big picture of this girl," he said, pointing to the picture of Hinata on my cork board. "Did you turn lesbian?"

"So what exactly are you here for?" I asked my hand still in a fist.

Sai had a very large bump on his head. I wonder why he didn't notice the equally big picture of Uchiha on my cork board? He massaged his bump for awhile then said, "I have an assignment in the next town and I knew you were here so I thought I'd pass by. But what is the picture of the girl for?"

I gave an exhausted sigh. "This cork board is for my main suspects. As you can see, I already have _two._"

Sai just nodded, encouraging me to go on.

"Currently, I'm investigating the girl. Turns out she has the same surname as the Hyuugas."

"Good first suspect," he said, nodding again. "Common clan we run into."

I agreed and looked at the clock. "You better get going, Sai. It's almost lights out."

Sai placed one foot on top of my windowsill, and with one push, flew out. He landed on the nearest tree branch, and with a quick wave and smile, moved towards wherever his assignment took place.

As I watched him disappear from the moon's light, something on the ground caught my eye. I could not see what the hulking figure was because it was covered in darkness. I grabbed my camera and the sword and jumped down. When I approached the spot where I saw it, the shadow was gone.

* * *

**I had this one fixed too. Jeez I need to start paying more attention to the document titles.**

**Thanks again xXAsuka-chanXx!  
**


	5. Part 4

Part 4

**Investigating on two primary suspects: A Hyuuga and an Uchiha. No word yet on who is the real one or what it's looking for. But I saw a suspicious figure roaming campus two weeks ago. I will investigate that too.**

**Hunter 012601**

I clicked _Send _ and turned off the computer. I threw myself on my bed and took out a book. I got bored of that soon so I decided to take a nap. That didn't work either. I sighed as boredom over took me. Maybe I could go over to Hinata's if she wasn't too busy. Deciding to take the chance, I slipped on my shoes and headed for the Hyuuga's dorm.

When I got there, the school's principle, Tsunade, and a cop were there, talking to the roommates.

"Was this part of a daily routine?" asked the cop.

"Y-yes." I heard Hinata's quiet voice stutter.

"But she always came back on time," said another girl, "we were surprised that she never showed up."

This time, Tsunade spoke, "And what time would she _usually _show up?"

"Eleven to eleven-thirty."

"Thank you," Tsunade said. I heard one footstep and I knew that cop and principle were marching out of the room. I hid behind the nearest corner so as not to be seen. They walked a little further until they were out of earshot of me and the girls' dorm.

"_Kieru,_" I murmured the spell of Invisibility. I looked down and saw no hands or feet. Quickly, I dashed to where the adults went and leaned against the wall.

" . . . to think something like this would happen in my school!" exclaimed Tsunade, rubbing her temples. "The girl goes for a nightly walk past lights out and she goes missing!"

The detective nodded then asked, "Has there been any loiterers or suspicious persons on campus?"

"No," the principle sighed. "We have teachers who patrol the area, especially at night."

"I need a record of who patrols where."

"Yes, follow me." They walked away, and I waited until their footsteps faded away.

"_Arawareru_," I said, reversing the Invisibility spell.

I went back, pausing right outside Hinata's dorm. So there was a disappearance. Could it be linked to the shadow I saw, or could the vampire have picked her up? Maybe there the same thing. I couldn't tell because I didn't have enough evidence.

Instead of knocking on Hinata's dorm, I went back to mine. I turned back on the computer and shuffled through the photographs until I came across the photo of the claw marks and chunks of kicked-up dirt.

I stared at it. That was the only evidence of the figure I saw that night. Some vampires can turn themselves into a beast-like form, becoming more powerful and more dangerous. If Hinata was the vampire, her roommate's nightly walks could help her set up a plan to feed. Maybe she turned into her beast form too because it thrilled at the thought of fresh blood. I just hope her roommate did not meet a terrible fate. I pray for the safety of the others.

* * *

**Kieru: Disappear in Japanese**

**Arawareru: Appear in Japanese  
**


	6. Part 5

Part 5

A couple days later, I sat in first hour Pre-Calculus, diligently taking notes. Hinata's roommate turned up the other day, but she had fainted and remained unresponsive. Sometimes I would hear teachers gossip that at night she screams with fright, exclaiming for something to stop.

Just before we were done with notes, the door opened and a boy with messy blond hair walked in. He had headphones in his ears and bobbed his head to the beat of the music that ranged loudly through those little headphones. His name is Uzumaki Naruto, and I remembered him because Hinata would blush every time he was around. He's not so bad, just annoying, which is another memorable thing about him.

"Uzumaki," called Umino Iruka. Obviously because of his loud music, Naruto proceeded to his seat. "Uzumaki. NARUTO!"

"Tch, dobe," one voice growled out of all the giggles and snickers.

I whipped my head to the sound of the voice and I saw Uchiha Sasuke, a look of disapproval on his face.

I must have stared at him for two whole minutes before he looked in my direction, and I quickly looked away. So Uchiha was in my Pre-Cal class too. I guess because he was so silent, I never noticed him before.

"Would you like to explain why you're thirty minutes late?" asked Iruka, straining his voice.

"I was sick for a couple days and so when I woke up this morning, I made sure my fever was totally — what did you say, teme!" Naruto snapped, pointing a finger at Sasuke.

A girl stood up and said, "Don't you dare point any fingers at my Sasuke-kun!"

When the girl turned to make and apology for the blonde's action, Naruto stuck his tongue out. She glared at him from over her shoulder and he briskly walked, as if nothing happened, to his seat which was ironically beside Uchiha Sasuke.

He sat down and gave Sasuke the peace sign and a wide grin. Sasuke just waved him off and looked back at the teacher.

_**Wasn't he just yelling at Uchiha a moment ago?**_

School ended, and hours later, it was dinner. I finished my dinner and headed back to my dorm. Along the way, I came across the nurse's office. No one was there, and no one was watching. I stepped inside and crossed the small room towards another room with beds. Hinata's roommate lay on one of the beds, handcuffed to the railings that were nailed on specifically for that purpose. She had a frightened expression in her face, and from time to time, a whimper would escape her lips. She was probably experiencing a nightmare, and a frightening one too.

Instinctively, I looked at her neck. There were no vampire fang markings. I scanned the rest of her visible body, but I could not find anything. I stared at the girl for a while, questioning on how could this have happened. Suddenly I spotted something dark underneath her sleeve. I rolled it up and on her arm were two red holes. I lifted her arm as far as the handcuff would allow and examined the holes. To my surprise, there were two additional bite marks on the other side of her arm.

My hand slipped over the marks and suddenly the girl shot up. Her eyes were wide open but unseeing; she screamed, "No! Please stop! Let go of me. Let go!.

I jabbed the back of her neck and she fell back down on the bed. I fast walked out of the room before anyone could come in and went straight for my dorm, then turned on the computer, and typed _Anatomy of a vampire._ The website provided me with an article that showed the physical structure of a vampire ― which is _extremely _alike to humans ― and heavily showed me the structure of the face. The sketch of a vampire's bones only showed two fangs, but its label brought me to another page. This page had a small passage that confirms my suspicions:

**There are vampires — though it is very rare — that have a second set of fangs, fangs that protrude from the bottom. Not cursed with the power to spread its terrible virus, the bottom fangs give a vampire a greater hold on its victim.**

And that was enough to make me conclude that Hyuuga Hinata was the vampire. Tomorrow, I would have to execute her for what happened to her roommate. The thought of me killing her saddened me. Over the weeks, I had come to like the girl. Sure she was unbelievably shy, and was always asked to do others homework, but she was easy to talk to unlike the Hunters who were always blunt, and she made me feel like a normal sixteen year-old girl facing normal problems rather then the threat of vampires. Before I slept that night, I prayed that Hinata would not go for another of her roommates blood.

* * *

With butterflies in my stomach, I walked to my locker. When I arrived, Hinata was there, but so were the other girls.

"I need this Japanese paper done before school ends today," I heard Ino say.

"Yeah, and these notes in History?" Suzuki Karin's slapped a bunch of papers on Hinata's books. "They're not gonna do themselves you know."

Hinata looked at me, pleading for my help. I opened my locker and hid my face behind the door. I felt sorry that I was doing this, but Hinata needed to learn that I will not always be there and she needs to start standing up for herself; to stop being an obedient robot, a being without a soul. Plus, it could do the school some good to know that someone was not taking those girls threats any more. Though my face was hidden, I watched from the little slits in my door.

"I need this trigonometry homework done tomorrow," said one girl.

"I need these notes done on _The Orlando _by tomorrow."

"Here's my History homework."

"Make a lab report on the chirping of crickets."

_Come on, Hinata. _I could only watch helplessly as she kept on accepting the work. What was she doing? No one could finish that work including their own. It was just too much.

"And we want them done soon," Karin said, adding a warning tone to her voice. Then she and the other girls turned around and began to walk away.

"No," Hinata's small voice said.

They turned around, dumbfounded by what the dark-haired girl just said.

"What did you say, No Soul?" Ino stepped forward, she too adding a warning tone to her voice.

"No," Hinata repeated. "I-I am tired of doing your homework. I'm not going to do them anymore, so you'll have to start doing them yourselves."

Ino looked like she wanted to hit her. I clasped the edge of my locker door, ready to spring if fists fly, but a teacher walked by and sent the girls away. I smirked to myself and turned towards my text books, acting as if nothing happened.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Hinata said from behind.

"It worked, didn't it?" I turned around.

"Yes. It did."

Hyuuga Hinata wasn't stuttering. I felt proud at her accomplishment, but now it was time to execute my plan. "To celebrate, would you like to come to my dorm? After school?"

Hinata averted her gaze to the ground and said, "Y-yes, b-but what about homework?"

Okay, so maybe she wasn't totally over her habit of stuttering.

"We can get that done in my dorm, then after, we can go for a movie or something. But now we should get going; passing time is almost over."

We started for Chemistry until Hinata said, "Wait."

I watched as Hinata walked over to a trash can and threw away her folder.

* * *

"I never knew your dorm was so close to mine."

"Yeah, it's not much farther now," I said, hoping I didn't sound nervous.

As the door came closer, the butterflies became stronger and stronger. I wasn't scared, I just didn't want to do this. Just the thought of my weapon piercing Hyuuga Hinata's heart sent shudders through me. But a girl was bitten, and it is my job as a Hunter to eliminate the beasts that harm humans. This had to be done before another innocent person was harmed.

I unlocked the door and stepped inside, Hinata close behind.

"Wow! You have a single dorm? Your parents must have paid a lot to get you one," said Hinata.

Of course she wouldn't know about my family. She wouldn't know that my mother was dead and my father was sitting in a hospital.

"Before we work on homework, there is something I'd like to do," I said. I pulled the retractable blade out. "Unlock." As soon as the sword grew, I spun around, stopping the sword just outside of the skin on Hinata's neck.

At first there was surprise written on her face, then as her eyes traveled across the blade towards the Hunter symbol, her eyes washed out into understanding. "So, you're the Hunter they sent." Her voice was calm and unfaltering; I knew her shyness was just an act. "And you suspect I'm the vampire."

I remained silent.

"Well I'm not."

"Then what about the disappearance of your roommate and the bite marks on her arm?" I challenged. I poised the sword, ready for any sudden moves.

"That was not me." She probably still saw the doubt in my eyes, because then she said, "If you don't believe me, then slice me with your sword."

She was so desperate to prove me wrong. If she was a human, then the blade would just pass through her, and a normal person would know my identity. But if she was a vampire, then she would be sliced in two, and I would have lost a friend.

Nevertheless, I raised the sword and swung. There was no force or resistance of the flesh as I cut across Hinata's body. It was like a knife slicing through butter. When the blade was through, there was no blood and the Hyuuga's body did not split. Hinata's eyes were closed the whole time and when she opened them, all the butterflies lifted from my stomach.

We said nothing to each other for a long moment. I took advantage of the silence and withdrew from my drawer the picture of Hinata and tore it. I threw the pieces away then said, "I'm sorry if I scared you."

"It's okay. You were only trying to do your duty."

"Though I have one more question: How did you know that a Hunter was coming?"

Hinata looked down and twiddled her fingers. "Well, a-as you probably know this, but in my family, there are two sides: A human side, and a vampire side. Of course, I'm on the human side. Since the Hyuugas have a vampire side, we know what happens in that world. And so before school st-started last year, my father warned me of a vampire attending school, and then before this year started, he warned me again of a Hunter, which turned out to be you."

"Then I take it you never found out who is the real one?" I inquired.

"No, but I have looked at it a couple times." Hinata became silent then said, "I-I guess I should be going then."

"No, wait."

Hinata turned around, looking expectantly, eager to hear what else I had to say.

"We can still hang out tonight, " I continued. "I mean, we should still celebrate what happened today." This time, it was _my _turn to look at the ground. "If you still want to."

There was a long pause before Hinata spoke. "Yes, I'd love to."

Of course, there was still the homework to deal with, but we got that done in no time. We dressed in our normal clothes (we had to make a quick stop at Hinata's dorm for hers) and headed towards the nearest movie theater.

It is enforced that if someone were to know a Hunter's identity, we would execute them or erase their memory. I decided against both of them, and relaxed for the movies (it was hard _not _to laugh at how phony the horror movie was, but Hinata was a little shaken up, so we had to move to a quieter screen).

After the movies, we bought a couple burgers and ate them while going to our dorms. I took the last bite of my sandwich and threw the wrapper when we came to Hinata's dorm.

"Arigatou, Sakura-chan," Hinata said. "For being there for me and helping me."

Again with the looking down. "Is it okay if I call you Hinata-chan?"

"Of course." Hinata giggled and I couldn't help but smile too. "See you tomorrow, Sakura-chan."

"See you tomorrow, Hinata-chan."

She went into her dorm and I proceeded towards mine. The fact that Hyuuga Hinata was not the vampire may have been one of the best things in my life. I can now have a friend who was not a numb Hunter. Sai was my only friend in Cazom and he's okay, but it's nice to have a friend outside of the Society who is just a regular kid.

I entered my dorm, and the room seemed to have a new air to it. I looked out my window into the dark sky until I saw a figure standing amongst the trees. I leaped down and scurried behind a tree close to where the figure was. It was Uchiha Sasuke, and he was talking to another person.

"You're slacking on your mission, Sasuke-sama," said the other man.

"I know, and after what happened, the Hunter might have me as one of his main suspects," said Uchiha.

"Well you need to hurry. If more disappearances occur, then the Hunter could reveal to the whole school that you are a vampire."

Sasuke didn't say anything. So he was the leech who was roaming the school. I don't know what he was after, but after what happened to the student, he needs to be taken care of. I took a step back, then froze when a twig snapped under my foot.

Uchiha and his companion suddenly disappeared. I spun around to spring away, until Sasuke reappeared right in front of me.

"How much did you hear?" he demanded.

I didn't answer. I was rooted to the spot as my eyes met red eyes with three comma-like pupils.


	7. Part 6

Part 6

_**Run! Run! **_My Inner screamed, but for some reason, my body would not comply. My heart began to pump faster and faster until it felt like it would explode out of my chest. As I looked into Uchiha's eyes, my breathing became shallow, and I saw flashes of my dead mother and tortured father. What's going on?

"How much did you see?" Sasuke repeated harshly.

As soon as he spoke and I saw the fangs, I remembered who I was. I ducked down and swung my leg to catch him from underneath, but he jumped just before I could make contact. When the vampire landed, I threw a couple shuriken at him then ran up and tried to stab him with a kunai.

Sasuke caught my hand, then stopped my on coming fist. Uchiha's freezing hands sent goosebumps crawling across my arms. He looked at the emblem on my kunai, and just like Hinata, surprise was quickly replaced with understanding.

"You're the Hunter," he breathed.

When he looked at me with his red eyes, I was struck by the terrible images. I shook them out and continued to meet his gaze as best as I could.

"So what?" I retorted. "You're the vampire, and after what happened to the girl, you need to be executed." I dug my feet into the dirt and pushed my kunai closer to the bloodsucker's heart, but he resisted better and I was flung to empty ground.

A beam of light shined in my eyes. I couldn't make out who it was, but from the voice, I knew that it was a teacher.

"What are you still doing out here? It's past curfew!"

"Sorry, sir," I replied.

He sighed. "I don't care if you're waiting for your boyfriend or —"

"My boyfriend!" I spun around to point out that Uchiha Sasuke was not some stupid little lust interest, but he was gone, as if he was never there.

"Damn him," I and my Inner growled.

"Excuse me?" asked the teacher.

"Nothing." I turned back and started for the dorms. "I'm going back to my dorm. I'm sorry for being out late-it won't happen again."

The teacher nodded his head in agreement, and sidestepped to let me through. He walked me back to my dorm, probably to make sure I stayed true to my word. As soon as I was in my room, I tacked on the picture of Uchiha Sasuke, and in red ink, I wrote _True vampire. _Underneath it, I wrote _Possible Attacker, _then I remembered his eyes then wrote _and murderer. _This assignment just got interesting

Over the next few days, Uchiha shown up to class acting as if nothing happened. I've tried to get him isolated with just me around so he gets what he deserves, but apparently girls are always flocking at his heels, making everything difficult.

One day, me and Hinata were at my locker before English when a sudden wind blew past. Tons of papers flew accompanied by the screeching laughter of girls.

"What was that?" asked Hinata, straightening her wind blown hair.

I looked at my things to make sure everything was in order, and there was a note on top addressed to me I opened it and inside it said:

**If you want to know what bit that girl, meet me in the music rooms after school today.**

My eyes scanned the hallways, looking for Uchiha. Of course, he was not there. To just appear right after a strong wind would be strange. This vampire was smart.

After eighth period, I grabbed my belongings and went down to the Music rooms which was in the Art wing. I have never been down here before, but there were still some students singing or packing instruments. I ran my hand across the neck of a cello, feeling the vibrations of each string. My mother loved to play music, and there were always instruments like this in our little home back then. I had asked her to teach me how to play once, but she never got to.

"That's my cello," came Sasuke's voice.

I backed away to let him pack up his cello, and followed him to the instrument lockers.

"So, you play the cello." It was not a question, but it came from curiosity.

Uchiha did not speak until he closed his instrument locker. "Yeah. Been playing it for a while."

I straightened my face as he turned around and walked out of the classrooms. I followed, guessing his avoidance of other people was a signal for me to come to. We were silent all the way to a cliff that overlooked the nearby town.

"Why did we have to come all the way here?" I asked. "Why couldn't we have stayed in the music lockers? No one was there."

He leaned against a tree and replied, "You never know."

"Fine then." I crossed my arms, hiding a shuriken. "Moving on to the real reason why you asked for me: What is your theory on what happened to the girl?"

"Werewolf."

I almost dropped the shuriken. "Werewolf?"

"Hn." I took his grunt to mean "yes."

"Explain."

Uchiha sighed; he obviously didn't like to talk much. "Werewolves are humans cursed with the ability to transform into a wolf-like creature against there will. If you remember back to the time the girl went missing, there was a full moon."

Yes. I remembered the white orb that helped me identify Sai as he was leaving for his assignment. The werewolf theory might have a connection with the beast I saw that night too. "This is why you're here?"

He nodded.

"Do you have any idea who this werewolf might be?"

He shook his head.

Great. Not only did I have a vampire to watch, but a creature with no identity that was rampaging the campus every full moon. My plate as a Hunter could not get anymore full.

"You are obviously of the Uchiha clan, so how long have you been on Earth?"

"At least sixty years."

I frowned at this. Vampires age at a much slower rate then humans. One-hundred years for us is one year in their lifetime. Any vampire that was sixty would be similar to a human infant that has been alive for half a year. But Uchiha Sasuke looked around my age. He had to be seventeen to eighteen hundred years old to look like that. Could the Uchihas have a human side and he was turned into a leech? "Explain," I asked again.

"I thought Hunters were supposed to know the histories of vampire clans."

"I have weapons that can destroy that skin pretty boy," I threatened.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I wasn't always like this. A long time ago, my ancestors foresaw a great danger approaching. So to preserve the family, they sealed all our powers: our super strength, enhanced senses, Kekkei Genkai, immortality, everything.

"But they spared one member and let him keep his powers. He was supposed to guard and watch over the generations until he felt the danger pass."

"And so, fifty years ago, this ancestor released the seal and returned you and the other members of your family into what you really are," I concluded. "How has things been going so far?"

Sasuke clenched his teeth so hard that I thought his fangs might pierce his lips. "You wouldn't want to know."

Oh, it would so simple to swipe the shuriken across his heart. And I could be doing the 'former human' a favor by releasing him from the need to feed off the life force of the living. Death is the only way Hunters can cleanse all of the victims miseries.

_There is one condition: You cannot kill the vampire as soon as you find one._

Wracked with disappointment at Koharu's words, I asked another question, "What is your Kekkei Genkai?"

Sasuke closed his eyes, and when he opened them, my stomach lurched. Those red eyes. I swear they were spinning, moving around, hypnotizing me under their spell. Once again, my heart began to race, and breathing became difficult. What is this sensation?

"Are you scared?" Uchiha asked mockingly.

I shook my head and looked down to prevent the feeling. "I don't have fear." Fear was the one feeling I threw out. To feel scared slowed you down, it slowed your chances of succeeding; it is an unnecessary feeling. I can't remember the last time I was frightened, or what it feels like. I am not scared.

"Of course, you're a Hunter." There was something odd about the tone of his voice. Before I could guess, he said, "With my Kekkei Genkai, I can see the future."

"See the future?" I repeated. "Does the rest of your clan have this power?"

He shrugged. "It varies." He guessed that I wanted a presentation, so he raised my head so our eyes met.

"W-what do you see?" I asked, giving a slight shudder at how cold his hands were.

His eyebrows knitted together before answering. "It's strange; I can't see anything in your future, but . . . I can hear it."

"Hear?" I repeated again.

Sasuke nodded. "All that _appears _is black" — he closed his eyes — "but I hear growling, roars, a gunshot, screams, and —" Sasuke clutched his head and doubled over, falling to the ground and dragging me with him. He started muttering things I could not understand except "Why?", "Dad!" and "I'm sorry." He squeezed my arm and the pressure from his fingers was so much that I thought he would snap my arm.

"Sasuke! Hey!" In a desperate attempt, I smudged the Hunter's emblem and threw the shuriken, but just close enough to graze his skin. When he snapped out of his episode, his gaze was clouded but eventually grew clearer. He let go of my arm, muttering a quiet apology.

It sounded like I would lead a violent future. Haven't I always led that kind of life? The sounds of beast who have lost their minds, a bullet firing from a Hunter gun, screams of the dying or transforming vampires. Wouldn't I always lead a life with these elements from now on? Either way, I was glad Uchiha could not see what would happen since I'd rather not go into the visual details of my future.

"Have you ever used your gift to kill anyone?" This last question was a personal question. Sasuke's red eyes did not have the malice as the eyes I saw that night, but I had to know. Even if his eyes were not evil, things change.

"No." If he had told a lie, I would have known. I have always been able to see through small lies. I like to call it intuition. When I heard Uchiha's answer, I knew that it was the truth.

Sasuke whipped his head around. "Someone's coming," he said, and he was in the tree in one leap. "Act like I'm not here."

I searched around for a moment and took out my phone, pretending to look through my photos. Yamanaka Ino appeared and as she walked by me, she whispered, "Hello, Forehead."

When Ino was gone, Sasuke jumped down while I rubbed my forehead.

"Tch. They're so annoying," he grumbled.

"Who? Your fans? I thought someone like you would enjoy all this, since all the bloodsuckers I've met are all conceited."

"Hn," he scowled.

"But could the whittle vampireling be a . . . pervert?" It took everything I had to keep my face at a smirk of glee as Uchiha's face became flustered. "Come on Uchiha. You've got lots of girls bowing at your heels, and when you delivered your note to me, lots of girls screamed as a 'wind' flew by."

His expression turned to pure hatred. "I am not a pervert. You're annoying!" He stomped past me in the direction of the dorms, then turned back. "By the way, don't report anything about me or what I told you to anyone — not your Hunter society, or Hyuuga Hinata. I can't see _you, _but I can see what happens to others." He faced his back to me. "If you do then I _will _use my gift and do terrible things to the people you care about." Then he was gone.

* * *

**This story has no similarities to Twilight at all . . . okay maybe five things. One of them is actually important in a romance story; it's supposed to be some sort of part where the main character develops or something. But I've changed them all to be really different, you might even say that two of them were inspired by Harry Potter. Besides, theres a big, _BIG _gap between Sakura and Bella. Twilight, was . . . meh, an okay series for me, but not something I'd love (unlike Harry Potter, or Naruto :D).**

**Thanks a bunch, xXAsuka-chanXx (from this point on, I will be thank you in _every_ chapter)!  
**


	8. Part 7

Part 7

**Still investigating two primary suspects. No further lead on who is the vampire.**

**Hunter 012601**

I clicked _send _and once the screen cleared, I rubbed my temples. That was my first fake report and the first of many to come. I'm going to have to plan how I write convincing ones to the Council.

I gave a small groan and opened my Chemistry notebook and began studying. After my discussion with Sasuke, it seemed we had developed a rivalry, well one sided anyway. In almost every Pre-Calculus or Chemistry class, I feel like competing against him. I haven't told Hinata what happened but sometimes she would ask me if I was about to kill someone. Mentally, I would reply _Not yet. _I don't know what kind of grades Uchiha gets, but they must be good since Iruka and Gai are pleased with both of ours when they hand back tests or papers.

After studying the numerous atomic numbers, I rubbed my eyes and looked out the window. The moon was full tonight. I grabbed a couple weapons, jumped out, and patrolled the area for awhile. I stayed out of the light of the teachers and went back to my dorm after making five laps around the building. Not once did I see a trace of the werewolf.

* * *

School got out the next day and I headed back to the dorms, miffed at how I wasn't able to get any information from Sasuke.

"Sakura-chan, do you know what happened to Naruto-kun?" asked Hinata, twiddling her fingers. We walked down the sky bridge before I answered.

"I dunno. Why?"

Hinata turned apple-red and started fidgeting with the strap of her bag. "N-no reason."

"What's that?" said the girl in front of us as she turned to look out the window. "It's-it's a body!"

Now everyone looked out the window. On the ground was a man. His chest was split open, blood spilling around him.

"I'm calling an ambulance," said a boy over the pointing and murmuring.

I turned my head and found Uchiha, just staring at the crowd. He didn't even look the least bit surprised. Our eyes met for a moment, then he continued his way back to the dorms.

"Sakura-chan, l-let's go; I don't wanna look at it anymore," said Hinata after another five minutes of seeing the body. She took my arm and pulled me out of the crowd as an ambulance and a police car pulled up onto the scene.

Later that night, I snuck out and headed for the body. There were still police officers and all the principals were there too. The body was being zipped into a cadaver bag while a forensic scientist stood over it, writing notes on her clipboard.

There were footsteps and I turned to find Sasuke. He jerked his chin up and jumped on top of the sky-bridge. I followed, landing until we were an arm's length away.

"Was this the werewolf's doing?" I asked.

He nodded. "He's lucky; he escaped the curse."

"'The curse'?" I repeated. "Wait. What's gonna happen to the girl?"

"She's okay. There were no signs of transforming."

"And this curse?"

"It's like vampires; you get bitten, you become one of us."

"I see," was all I could say. Vampires and werewolves; they are so different yet so alike. I don't even know which is more dangerous. But I do know that both jeopardize human lives. If only I could tell Hinata, then we could work as a team and keep track of both. An acquaintance to work with.

The people below started to leave, and Uchiha started back for the dorms. "There are far less attacks than last year."

* * *

For a week, all everyone ever talked about was the dead man with the open chest. I quietly listened to each conversation, biting back my tongue to not join in. When Friday came, I was relieved to hear less talk about it.

"You seem to be at ease," said Hinata as we crossed the sky-bridge.

We passed by a student who gave us two yellow fliers. I skimmed over the flier; it was an advertisement for the school's upcoming orchestra concert.

"Hinata-chan, have you ever been to one of these?" I asked.

"No, since I-I was always doing homework . . . before." She trailed off for awhile then added, "but I heard they're really good, especially since Uchiha Sasuke came to the school."

"Okay. Let's go to the concert," I said. If Uchiha was going to be there, then I should too, to watch him of course, and it be nice to hear some orchestra music too.

December seventh, the day of the concert came. I put on some casual clothes and met up with Hinata. She led me to the school auditorium and we took our seats. As people walked in, I passed the time by looking through the program. When I reached the Symphony list, one piece caught my attention:

**Kol Nidrei ** **. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ****Max Bruch**

Soloist: Uchiha Sasuke, cello.

Uchiha is going to perform a solo. Interesting I guess, to the avid fangirl. He never strikes me as someone to perform a solo. Maybe the teacher forced him or something.

When most of the seats were filled, the instrumentalists filled in their spots. First it was the school's Philharmonic orchestra, composed mainly of underclassmen. I listened and heard a couple violins out of tune. I'm sure the conductor noticed it too; she is after all, a musician. The only people who didn't notice would be everyone else in the audience; they were quietly doing something else or not bothering to listen at all.

After the Philharmonic, came the Chamber strings. This group was made of Symphony players, since their whole attire was black. They were a good group and played their dynamics gracefully.

Finally the Symphony orchestra took Chamber's place. The audience, mainly the girls, straightened up as the conductor talked and the players arranged themselves into their seating arrangement. Sasuke was seated at the front and closest to the audience. He looked like he didn't want to be there, but oh well.

The first song they played was _Angels we have heard on High_. The played terrific. It must have been a hard piece since many of them took big, relaxing breaths before playing, but when it was over, they looked at the crowd with proud smiles.

Now it was time for the big piece. While the conductor talked about the piece, people down in the front row stood up and walked onto stage carrying woodwinds, brass and other non-string instruments. A harp was pulled from backstage. Some of Uchiha's fellow cello players gave him pats on the back and he just waved them off. When the conductor finished talking, she turned around and stepped onto the gray podium. She raised her conducting stick and gave the first count to begin.

A few seconds into the beginning, I closed my eyes and let my ears do the work. the beginning was slow and dark, then came the big solo. Instinctively, I was doubtful, but Sasuke playing was . . . amazing. I could hear it all; dynamics, accents, slurs, grace notes, everything was played beautifully. I could tell that everyone thought so too because the audience was deathly silent, not letting any other sound intrude. I kept my eyes closed, just listening.

When the song ended and when I opened my eyes, everyone in the audience stood up and clapped furiously, some whistling. The beaming conductor gestured towards Sasuke and he stood up, causing an even louder applause.

Sasuke turned his gaze to the right exit of the stage and I followed it, giving a half smile, half smirk at the thought that he's probably embarrassed. But then all of the heads of the orchestra looked in the same direction and some screamed: Out of the right exit came a great ugly beast with two sharp fangs.

"Vampire," I and Hinata said.

Suddenly the auditorium was chaos. Everyone began running. trying to get away from the vampire. Some of the Symphony players jumped off the stage, barely missing the claws of the beast.

"Hinata-chan, get out of here and make sure no one gets out; there could be more out there," I said, taking out a kunai.

As soon as Hinata left, I turned back to the stage. The conductor had jumped between the orchestra and the vampire, arms widespread. The beast jumped and its claws grew longer with it's mouth wide open to devour her.

"_Hi!_" The kunai in my hand became engulfed in flamed and I launched it at the beast's body. Then I cried, "_Tsuyosa!_" punching it in the face and sending it flying.

"Get out of here now!" I screamed at the shocked orchestra. I looked at the vampire as it got up and rushed at me. I pulled out my sword to block, but Uchiha did that for me. In one swift motion, he grabbed the arm and swung it into the empty audience chairs.

While some of the orchestra fainted, Sasuke led the rest out while I kept the beast vampire away. Suddenly, my sword was knocked away and I was thrown against the wall, landing on the hard carpet. The vampire appeared and slammed its paw in me, preventing any access to my weapons.

I lowered its head to my level, bearing its fangs and growling. The breath was horrible.

"_Tsu — tsu._" It was no use. The paw was pushing down on me so hard that it was compressing me. I couldn't even breath a single spell.

A white lion tackled it, biting at its flesh as they both landed away from me.

A boy who was around my age appeared and extended his hand. "Sakura," he said.

"Sai." I accepted his hand and got up. I've never been so glad to see him. "Is this your vampire?"

"Yes. I chased him all the way from my assigned location," he smiled. Sai turned back to the vampire. "You know, this one's very strong. I think we should use Hunter's Judgment."

"Hunter's Judgment?" I repeated. "But we both haven't mastered it yet."

"Yes, but you've gotten closer to it than me, so you should do it."

"Okay. I'll need my sword." I scanned the auditorium. "There, it's by the center exit door."

"I'll get it. Distract the vampire."

Sai ran around chairs towards my sword. The vampire slashed Sai's painted lion and leapt towards him, paws outstretched.

"_Tsuyosa!_" I kicked it to the ground then back on stage.

"_Hayameru,_" I murmured the spell of speed. I ran on stage in an instant, facing the vampire at a good distance. It tried to claw me, but I dodged and went to its left, the spell still working. I made a full circle of dodging then evaded from side to side as the vampire tried to get me with both of its hands, all the while smirking till the spell wore off.

"Sakura!"

I looked in Sai's direction only to see the silver gleam of my blade. I caught it and closed my eyes to concentrate.

"_Hantâ no Hanketsu!_" I felt power surge through the sword. When I opened my eyes, it was glowing white with the Hunter symbol gleaming red. This was it. Hunter's Judgment. The ultimate vampire hunter's spell. I raised my sword and swung, power flinging from the blade and slicing the vampire's body and heart in two.

Dust fell to the ground and my sword returned to normal. "Lock." The sword retracted back to its dagger form and I stored it back in my leg holster.

"I'll take care of the crowd outside. You clear the memories of these people," said Sai. "Oh and I've surrounded the place with ink clones so no one got out."

"Okay." I waved goodbye then looked at all the unconscious bodies on the floor. I went to the one closest to me, turned her on her back and laid my hand over her forehead. "_Wasureru,_" I murmured. There was a small glow from my hand for a split second then I did it again on the rest of them. I placed all of them on the chairs as they were still unconscious. There was footsteps behind me and stuff being moved.

"So, what did you think of the concert?" asked Uchiha Sasuke.

"It was good. The Philharmonic orchestra could have tuned more."

"Aah."

"You did a pretty good solo."

"I had a good teacher." He picked up a broken key from a flute and sighed. "Here, you can have a look." He held out his sheet music.

Just from the first page, I could tell it looked really complicated, especially with the thirty-second and sixty-fourth notes. The orchestra teacher must be really proud.

Tearing my mind off the music, I went back to what was my duty. "This vampire came from the next town. Why did it come here? A lot of people in one place?"

"Maybe, or maybe because I'm a pureblood."

_Oh really? _Purebloods are the highest level of vampire there is. They are given that name because they were born as vampires, not transformed. As such, they are very powerful; the ability to control nature elements, and to switch between human form and beast form at will. Their blood is also greatly coveted by the other vampire levels. Vampires say that the sweetest blood is that of the purebloods.

Sasuke picked up his cello and ran the bow across the strings. I gathered some of the vampire's remains and placed it in a small container I conjured up for Sai. Some of the people below started to mutter or groan.

"Uchiha, I have an idea." It was difficult to imagine, but it should work out. "We could work as a team."

He didn't say anything, except give me a slight puzzled look.

"Think about it. Our goal is the same: To protect the humans of this school. If we work together, then we could track down the werewolf. We could also ward off any other vampires that come into this area because of the large number of humans or your blood. We need to help each other." I extended my hand towards him.

He looked at my hands for a moment then leaned his bow against his cello. "Fine."

Sasuke clasped my hands and we shook hands in agreement.

* * *

**_Pureblood_**

**Either I have no originality, or I had writer's block. See? This was influenced by Vampire Knight.**

**Hi (pronounced as _Hee_): Fire in Japanese**

**Tsuyosa: Strength**

**Hayameru: Speed up**

**Hantâ no Hanketsu: Hunter's Judgment**

**Wasureru: Forget**

**So apparently, Kishimoto _can _write romances. See? It wasn't _that_ hard. **

**Thank you xXAsuka-chanXx!  
**


	9. Part 8

Part 8

Boredom defeated me as I sat in study hall one morning, reading from my English class's current book. I looked out the window I sat close to and watched white sprinkle the ground. "Huh. It's snowing," I murmured

Apparently the girl in front of me heard what I said and looked. "Snow!" she exclaimed. Her and everyone else rushed to the windows, beaming.

"How long will it be until it covers the ground?" one asked.

"Oh I hope it doesn't melt!" said another.

"You be on my team this year; I want to win."

"We'll pummel you guys for sure."

"Hey Chouji," I tapped the portly boy on the back. "What's everyone talking about?"

"Only one of the greatest snowball fights of the year!" he replied dramatically. "Every year, everyone has a big snowball fight on the last day before winter break. The winning team can hit the losing team anytime while they are paying up bets made before the end of winter."

"Sounds like fun," I said.

"Yep, and we also do it to mark off the end of the first semester, but no one really cares about that." He turned back to his friends and began making teams and deals about treating him to his favorite restaurants.

It also snows in Cazom, but no one is ever excited nor mad about it. I once threw a snowball at Sai to ease my boredom, but all he did was wipe his head, smile, and turn away. There are no snow-angels or snowmen in Cazom, only mountainous blank snow banks.

I wonder how I would fair in a snowball fight.

* * *

"You're staying here for winter, Sakura-chan?" Hinata asked later in Chemistry.

"Yeah. I'll be watching for anymore attacks in case the vampire decided to stay here too." Sasuke had signed up to stay in Konoha Academy for break, and I have too. I was aware that Uchiha was listening to what we were saying. _**How's that for keeping a secret? **_"What about that snowball fight? Are you going?"

"I-I went to one back in my freshmen year. I got soaked so badly that when my cousin picked me up, he got really mad." She bit her lip, then asked, "Who did you bet with?"

"Uzumaki Naruto," I said casually. I smirked when Hinata's face turned bright red. "And if we win, he has to" — I cupped my hand over her ear and whispered — "take you on a date."

"Wh-why would you d-do that!" she shrieked, causing all heads to turn to us. "I-I mean . . ." She sank low into her chair, blushing furiously.

I laughed. "Nah, I'm kidding. I told them that if my team wins, he has to throw snowballs at his best friend until the end of winter." There was a sound of furious ripping coming from Sasuke's direction.

The bell rang just as we finished the final worksheet problem for our lab. I went to my seat to get my stuff, earning a glare from Uchiha. I shrugged, turned around, then smirked.

The big fight day came, and once the final bell of the day rang, everyone rushed out of the doors and onto a big field at the front of the school. Hinata sat on the side with some other girls and waved as I stood by Inuzuka Kiba and picked up a clump of snow. Once the team captains called "_Fire!_" flurries of snow flew. Unfortunately, we lost, and after giving out a few pats of a job-well-done, our team scattered before the others could even pick up another snowball.

"Sorry you lost," said Hinata as we headed to the dorms. My hair and blazer were dripping wet, leaving trail drops behind me. "But you did really good. Even the other team was impressed!"

"I owe it all to throwing sharp weapons," I replied.

We came to my dorm where I changed into comfortably dry clothes. Hinata took the luggage she left in my room and we went straight for town. I got hit by two snowballs from kids who were leaving for their homes for the holidays.

"When is your family going to pick you up?" I complained as white splattered the window of the café we were sitting at.

She giggled. "Don't worry, they'll come. Why not order something to eat?"

Grudgingly, I ordered some food, ignoring the mocking laughter outside. One guy even tried to get me while inside, but he got shooed away by the manager before he could throw. "This is going to be a long season," I muttered somberly.

"Oh, here comes my cousin," said Hinata, standing up and putting on her coat. As she walked out, I left the proper payment and tip for the waiter and headed out. Hinata slammed the trunk of the black car shut and walked towards me. "You going to be okay going back alone? We can accompany you."

"I'll be fine, geez," I sighed. "You just have fun." Hinata gave me a hug then sat in the front seat by her cousin, whom I could not see because of the tinted windows and the dark sky. I waved goodbye, and as soon as the car was gone, I made my way back to the dorms.

I was about to turn at the last corner before arriving at the school's campus when two men sprung out, followed by a charge of electricity.

"Let's get out of here," one said, "that guy's a freak!"

"Did you see his eyes?" asked the other as they ran in the other direction. "They were red!"

_Red eyes? _I turned to the other side and saw the bent figure of Sasuke. He was breathing heavily, his fingers digging into the brick wall he was leaning on, leaving deep trenches. Lightning zapped around his body and his eyes were glowing red. I've seen those eyes numerous times: it was the sign of a thirsty vampire.

"Sasuke, have you had blood yet?" I asked.

"No . . . didn't come." Suddenly he spun around and pushed me to the middle of the road. "Stay away!"

He collapsed, the lightning becoming feeble crackles. I regained my balance and went back as a car was approaching. He was still conscious but he was shaking hard and the thirst was growing stronger. Other people were looking at him and some were taking out their cellphones.

"Sasuke, we need to get you out of here." I placed one of his arms over my shoulders and helped him stand up. I moved through the street, taking a detour into an alley, then jumped on top of a roof and went for the dorms.

Half-dragging Uchiha, I went for mine. Once inside, I let him drop on the floor and closed my door. I propped Uchiha against the wall; his breathing was still hard and his pupils were mere slits.

"Sasuke, did you have blood yet?" I asked again.

"Didn't come," was all he said before he roared and broke my chair with his fist. "Blood . . . I need blood!"

He's losing control of his instincts. If I don't get him blood soon, he'll lose it and rampage across the dorms. _Dammit! I have no other choice. _I rolled up my left sleeve, then took a sharp piece of my chair and slid it across my wrist, drawing blood. When it flowed steadily, I placed my wrist close to his face.

"Drink," I ordered.

Sasuke glanced at it for a moment, then abruptly pushed it away.

"Drink," I said again, shoving it back in his face. "I'm permitting you to drink, so take it. If you're worried about turning me into a vampire, just be careful not to dig your fangs into me."

Hesitantly, he took my arm. He looked at me for a second, licked the trail of blood that fell around my arm then placed his mouth over my cut. His pupils dilated and he drank hungrily. I felt my cheeks heat up as he licked trails on my arm clean, as if he wouldn't leave a drop to waste. Then things began to spin: the bed, door, desk, Sasuke, everything.

"Sasuke, too much," I moaned weakly. I fell over, my arm still held by Sasuke. "Stop." Then everything turned black.

* * *

I opened my eyes, just to have it closed again by bright light. I covered them with my bandaged hand and sat up in my bed.

_My wrist is bandaged? And I'm in bed?_

"Why did you do it?"

I looked up and saw Sasuke standing on the other side of the room, as far from me as possible.

"Do what?" I placed my hand over my forehead; I felt lightheaded.

"Give me blood. Don't you realize what could have happened?"

"Of course I did." I'm a Hunter. I know what could happen. I've seen it with my own eyes. "But we made a deal to help each other. If it means giving my blood to help you control yourself, then so be it."

"Don't do it again." He paused, then added, "I'll give you an extra blood-transfusion pack. Just never do it again."

"Sasuke, even if –"

"Please, Sakura." He was begging, pleading as if my blood was that important.

"Okay. I promise."

He went to the door and stepped out. "I won't lose control again. I promise." Sasuke closed the door, leaving me looking at my bandages.

* * *

**Man I wish my school would have a snowball fight. I could really use the throwing practice for softball.**

**Oh boy, I really wish I could be consistent in updating this. I _meant_ to update it last week, but apparently, due to my laziness, school, and my decision to catch up on the whole series of Bleach (that is one I'm lazy with too), I have to do it today. Why? Why am I cursed with teenage laziness? :(  
**

**xXAsuka-chanXx, you're the best! Thanks!  
**


	10. Part 9

Part 9

"I really need to get out," I said as I looked at the empty tables of the cafeteria. I finished drinking my soda then went back to my dorm for my jacket. The full moon was out, so I strapped my sword on and headed out.

The town was full of busy shoppers. I stopped by the CD store, browsing CDs and listening to some music.

"Dad might like this." I bought a _Santana _CD for him. He said that he always listened to them when he was young. Maybe he'd like to listen to them again.

Then I went around, doing some small shopping. I got Sai a brand new sketch book and a set of paint brushes. Then I got Hinata some hair clips. I decided it was time to go since my wallet was very light now; I hope Hinata will understand why it's not wrapped.

I took a shortcut through the town's empty courtyard. The full moon was very bright, shining down on me as if it were a target beam. The snow crunched on the other side. An eight-foot beast was there, its gazed focused on me. My first thought was beast level vampire, but it looked different.

It dashed to me in a blur, gnawing at my unlocked sword. I could see the beast's features better. They were not bat-like, which is the basic form of all beast level vampires. Instead, they were canine features.

"_Tsuyosa!_" I punched the creature in the chest, sending it back to where it appeared. I leapt on top of a tree, took out the phone and got a picture of it.

Then it was at the base of the tree, clawing its way up. I tried to knock it down with the fire spell, but the beast's claws slashed across my arm and hurtled me to the ground. I was now bleeding profusely. The blood from my arm was agitating the creature's senses because its nostrils were flaring as it came closer. I swung my sword at it clumsily; the beast got my sword arm.

"_Kouri!_" I yelled, sweeping a torrent of ice at it, enclosing it on all sides. It bought me enough time to move away and apply pressure to my arm.

The creature broke through the ice after a couple seconds, more agitated then ever. It charged at me, its teeth and claws bared out.

Fire blasted from the right, sending it flying away. Sasuke appeared, his eyes swirling with the Kekkei Genkai. The beast roared and charged again, but was stopped by Sasuke who threw him at the farthest wall. Dazed and wounded, it limped as fast it could out of the courtyard.

"Heal up," he ordered.

I applied pressure then said, "_Naosu._" Warmth flowed in as the injuries closed up, leaving pink traces of claw marks. I reached for my sword and tested it; stiff, but other than that, my arm is in good condition.

"Was that the werewolf?" I asked as I put away the sword. That thing had an uncanny resemblance to a wolf with a human body.

"Aah." He looked around first, watching the courtyard entrance with his ability.

"What's going to happen to the werewolf now?"

"Retreated. It's too injured to attack so it's following basic instinct."

"Then we should go after it!" I started for the direction of where it went.

"No!"

I immediately stopped. Something flashed in my mind. Mom? Did he just remind me of my mom?

"You can't just go recklessly chase it. You –"

"But what about the other people around here?" I rounded. "They're helpless. They don't have weapons, or knowledge of how to kill a werewolf. We just can't leave them at risk."

"You don't know about werewolves either," he said calmly. "You've been injured. If you chase after it, you'll only be creating more danger."

I clenched my fist. He was right. I lost a large amount of blood, I even felt slightly lightheaded. I won't be able to do anything. I'd just be helpless, weak, unable to protect anyone. I walked to where I had discarded my bag before the encounter and checked to make sure nothing was broken.

"I'll keep watch for the werewolf. You head back and rest," he said, then left.

* * *

For the next couple days, I did nothing but stay in my dorm. I only went out for the meals they offered us but went back as soon as I got them. I avoided any encounters with Uchiha, and looked in other directions except his. I sent another report to the Council, being only true about the vampire at the concert. On New Year's Eve, as I went out of my dorm to eat dinner, I met up with Naruto.

"Say, Sakura-chan, how 'bout getting some ramen?" he suggested.

"Sorry, can't go on dates," I said then walked down the hall.

"But there's a carnival in town with rides and . . . and you could pay off the bet!"

"Well, that does sound like a good idea." I tapped my chin, watching Naruto grow anxious by the second. I chuckled at the faces he made then said, "Ramen it is. But it's just to pay off the bet. It's not a date."

Instantly, his face fell. "Okay. I'll go get teme; he might like some ramen too."

I grabbed his arm. "No Uchiha, please. I can't pay for all three of us," I lied. I noticed that Naruto's hand was covered in bandages. "Hey, what happened to your arm?"

"It's nothing; I spilled hot water while making ramen the other day. Anyways, let's go. I don't wanna stand in line!" I didn't believe what he said, but he grabbed my arm and half-dragged me to town.

The carnival was the town's New Year's carnival. It was complete with games, rides, and everything else at such events, even an animal exhibit. Almost everyone was there. In fact, I got hit by snowballs from some students who had come by for the carnival. Naruto brought me to a small, but toasty stand with tall stools for the bar table.

"Hi, Naruto," greeted the waitress. "What can I get for you today?"

"Chicken or pork?" He stared at the menu for a long time then asked, "Sakura-chan, what do you think? Pork of chicken flavor?"

"Why not something new? It is New Year's Eve."

"Good point. Ayame, anything new on the menu?" he asked.

"No, sorry. But with our shrimp ramen, you can now decide if you want orange flavor instead of lime."

"Ooh, I want that. I want orange shrimp ramen."

I payed for a large bowl of orange shrimp and I got myself a small bowl of miso ramen. I watched as the blond ravenously scarfed down his food.

"Naruto, you're gonna choke," I said.

"Mo I'm mot."

I finished my ramen while Naruto was still eagerly eating his. I left some more money on the counter and said, "Give him another bowl; one doesn't seem to be enough."

I left the voracious Naruto to his ramen and went carnival exploring. I arrived at the animal exhibit, which turned out to be a total let down, filled mostly with local animals; it was more like a petting zoo then an exhibit. The only interesting one was a display of what is supposed to be a "real" vampire. I stared at it for a long time, unlike people who spared uneasy glances at it as it crawled across its cage bars.

"It's real," said the one voice that made me want to slash its owner's throat.

"Are you sure you can't _see _my future? Because you really know when to turn up unexpectedly," I said irritably. I turned back to the vampire. "You sure it's real? I've never seen one act like that."

"A former human just on the border of beast level. But it's real."

"The boy's right," said a burly looking man, rapping against the cage and causing the vampire to become agitated. "We found it awhile ago when heading to the previous city. Hell, even the animals know it's real." He pointed to the other animals who were a good distance away.

"Are the cages reinforced?" I asked.

"Damn right they are. He broke through two previous cages before we got one with a dense metal." He narrowed his eyes at me. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason," I said quickly. I turned and began to walk away, knowing Uchiha was following. As long as that vampire was under control, there is no reason for me to pursue it in public. I just hope the dense metal was strong enough to hold it.

Something big and wet slammed against my head. I wiped the snow off, ignoring the laughter and cold water that was seeping into my clothes. I heard Sasuke give a stifled snicker.

_**Shut up! **_retorted Inner me, but I kept walking forward, ignoring him. I led him all the way to the Ferris wheel. "Well, you coming?" I got in line then proceeded into the next available carriage with Sasuke.

"You two have fun," said the manager of the ride. He winked then closed the door.

"You find anything?" I asked when we were out of ear shot. "Any traces of the werewolf?"

He shook his head.

We remained silent. I watched a crowd forming around the biggest clock. They began counting down as the second hand ticked by. Once it landed on the twelve, they all cheered and hugged one another as streams of light shot into the sky and burst into colorful fireworks.

"Happy New Year," I said quietly. "You've celebrated a lot of New Years right, Sasuke?"

He propped up his arm and rested his chin on his hand, eyes clouded. "When you're immortal, you forget these things. Those times spent, they're just distant memories. Those people are gone, no matter how much I want it to be a lie. "

"Stop lingering in the past," I said. "Your friends did not want to leave you, but it can't be helped; they don't have the longevity you have. The least you could do is live on for them." I looked out the window. "You know, they wouldn't want you to be like this, distancing yourself because of what you have become. Live happily." A memory of my mother came and I smiled. "You need to be brave. You need to face the fears in front of you, even if that fear is yourself."

Already we stopped at the top of the wheel. Everyone was still cheering; even the fireworks were still there. I remembered the many paper hats and paper blowouts my family used to celebrate New Years with; Dad sometimes blew them into my face and Mom's. If only we could go back and relive those days.

"There's no doubt about it," said Uchiha, "you really are —"

He was interrupted by scream down below; people were running out of the animal exhibit. Something burst out of the building, carrying a big lump in its claws. It was the vampire. It set down the big man and began to feed. Another man took out a knife and tried to pierce it. Unfortunately, a vampire's skin is too hard for ordinary knives, and when he tried to stab it, the knife bounced back. The vampire grabbed him and plunged its fangs in.

I kicked the door open and jumped out.

"Sakura!"

"_Yawara ka kusuru!_" I applied the spell to my feet and landed without too much force on them. "Unlock!" I took out my sword and charged at the Former Human. He dodged and ended up behind me. I spun around and begun to plunge my sword into his body, just as he was about to hit me with his hand.

Another hand caught it and someone directed my sword into the vampire's other hand.

"Your weapon is fighting back," said Sasuke as electricity crackled around his hand.

"It's a vampire hunting weapon: it's not supposed to like you. The spell on here is meant to injure vampires. It makes sense it would try to harm you, if _you _held it."

The vampire in front of us was sniffing the air. He dug his claws into Uchiha's skin, drawing blood.

"Damn," he scooped me up as the former human smelled the blood and tried to dive for Sasuke's hand. Bat wings sprouted from Sasuke's back and he carried me into the air.

"Uchiha, drop me directly above, I can get him."

"Can't." His eyes had activated to his Kekkei ability. "He'll knock you away and go after you."

"You said you can't see me in your visions."

"You don't _appear _in his future."

"What about paralyzing him?"

He stared at the vampire below. "It'll buy some time."

"Perfect. Shoot lightning straight at him." I held out my sword. "_Hantâ no Hanketsu!_" The sword became the familiar glowing white and red.

Sasuke pointed two fingers down and shot lightning. The vampire grew stiff when it hit, hardly twitching a muscle. Then I was dropped. I swung once, sending power down. Somehow, the vampire was able to miss it, barely, but it served as a distraction just as Hunter's Judgment faded into a normal sword.

"Eat this!" I plunged the sword into its chest then twisted it around towards the heart. It screamed for a moment before dissolving into dust.

I looked at the vampire caretaker; he was bloody all over. I placed the sword into his heart. He didn't become dust, but his new vampire life was stopped. I looked at the other man.

"Please don't kill him!" cried a woman as she covered his body with hers. "He's not a vampire. He got bitten, but he's not going to be a vampire. I'll make sure of it. Just please don't kill him!"

"I'm sorry," I said. "For the well being of you and him, I must do it." I placed my sword through both of them. Since my sword only harms vampires, it did not harm her but killed him.

She grabbed me by the neck of my shirt. "Why did you kill him? I wouldn't let him harm anybody!"

"But what if he never kept his human form? Then what? And even if he did manage to keep it, that would create tension among you. If he were still alive _and _able to move, he would distance himself from all those close to him because he would fear what he has become. So it was for the well being of you and everyone you care about." I placed my hand across her forehead. "_Wasureru._"

The woman became unconscious and I laid her on the ground. Then I turned to everyone in the crowd. They stared at me, some trying to get away. I placed my hands together and concentrated.

"_Wasureru!_"

The spell expanded everywhere, covering every person who had seen the vampire. They all forgot what happened and collapsed on the ground, only to come to in a matter of minutes. I brought my hand to my temples when a big headache came.

"I over-expanded that spell," I said to Sasuke. "But hey, we did pretty good."

"Yeah," he said, sounding relieved.

"Sasuke, what were you going to say before the vampire got out?"

"Just . . . that you really are annoying."

He probably meant to say something else, but before I could press for the truth, he laid his cool hand across my forehead, driving away all thoughts.

"Thanks." I said when the headache subsided a little. I closed my eyes. Everything felt different, like I had not felt like this in a long time. It was as if I could relax and place all my troubles on someone else.

* * *

**Naosu: Heal**

**Tsuyosa: Strength  
**

**Kouri: Ice  
**

**Yawara ka kusuru: soften**

**Wasureru: Forget**

**I tried to time it as best as I could to get this in on New Years. Guess I failed at that. Happy New Year's Eve, New Years, or January 2nd everybody!  
**

**Did you see what I did _again? _Why couldn't I think of anything better? Why did I take that idea from Matsuri Hino too?**

**xXAsuka-chanXx, thanks again for the awesome betaing, you really helped me with this chapter!  
**


	11. Part 10

Part 10

The last few days of winter break were filled with people coming back. Hinata returned the day before school started and I gave her the clips. She loved them right away and pulled some of her long hair to the side and held it together with one of the clips.

"Thank you, Sakura-chan," she said, twisting her head in front of my mirror. "I wish I had something I could give you." After that, Hinata always wore her hair in different styles every day.

Classes resumed, but I hardly told anyone about my winter break with anyone. Sasuke was silent as always, but he seemed a little different now. How very strange.

"Winter break really wasn't that exciting for me," said Hinata as we walked towards Chemistry. "It was nice to see my family again, but I wish it could've been a little more fun."

"What do you mean 'could've been a little more fun'? It was your family."

"Yeah, but all we did was have meetings and checking on the other side," she said the last part in a whisper. "But other than that, the only people I was with was my cousin and sister."

I remained quiet after that. Hinata's family seemed to focus more on the vampire issues than each other. I know it's none of my business, especially if it's about family, but I can't help but have mixed feelings.

A group of girls laughed loudly as they walked towards us. It was Ino and her friends. Hinata grabbed my arm and squeezed. When they passed, Hinata's grip slackened, but she didn't let go.

"I'm still scared of them, even after all this time," she said. She was trembling and a small upward curve formed on her lips. "I really wish I could be brave as you, Sakura-chan, though if I did, I'd probably find myself diving off a cliff."

I laid one hand over hers. "One day, you'll get the courage. I'm sure of it."

We proceeded towards class. On my desk was a piece of paper that said:

**Something is coming this way. Be on the lookout.**

I turned to face Uchiha who nodded his head, confirming that he was the one who wrote it. I was about to ask what he meant when Gai came in and started class.

* * *

Three days passed. I asked Sasuke what he meant. All he said was that he saw a vampire coming. I asked him when and he didn't answer, but something told me he was unsure. That night I decided to prepare my next report when a message appeared. It was a warning from the Council:

**Two vampires have been spotted in your area; one beast and one Former Human. Two Hunters have been dispatched to your location. Assist them if you can.**

_Two _vampires? Sasuke said he saw one. Maybe he mistook the Former Human for a regular human. But where are they? The message only said they were in my area. How could I find two vampires in this town? They could be anywhere, snatching victims and dragging them to dark places to feed, especially with the beast one roaming around.

I pulled out of the bottom drawer on my dresser my black Hunter's uniform and started putting them on. Someone knocked on my door as I snapped on my weapons belt. I peeked through the eyehole and there stood Sasuke.

"There are two vampires," I said as I opened the door. "You mistook the Former Human for a regular one."

"I know." He closed his eyes and when he opened them again, my breath stopped at the sight of his Kekkei Genkai. "And I know where they are."

I took a deep breath, grabbed my helmet and closed the door behind me. "All right, let's go. _Hayameru."_

We ran out of the school dorms and headed for town; I was just a couple steps behind Uchiha. He led me to a small, empty convenience store with its lights on. Inside, there was the sound of growling and something, a torn limb, was tossed in the air. I looked through the aisle and found an ugly beast, tearing flesh and lapping blood. Behind it was a man who turned towards us.

_"Tsuyosa!" _I ran and punched the Former Human in the gut. The beast removed itself from its meal and raised its claws at me. I blocked both pairs with my dagger and a kunai as Sasuke sped to my back to block the other one.

"A weapon branded with a cross within a circle," cited the Former Human. "What's this, a vampire protecting a Hunter?"

I kept my hold against the beast vampire. Something red slithered into my peripheral and I jerked to the side as a red tendril knocked my helmet off. Using the rest of the strength spell, I pushed the beast to the front and evaded another tendril. I turned around to see Sasuke fighting the Former Human, shooting fire and lightning at the red stems that came out of vampire's bloody hand.

I turned back to the beast as it was slowly getting up. I rushed forward and gave it a kick in its side. The beast regained its balance and charged back, swinging its claws. I applied the speed spell and ran, sliding over tiles with each turn. I threw a ball of fire, pulled down a lone shelf, scattering the rack's contents everywhere, and then jumped on top of another shelf.

The vampire cleared its way through the mess and approached my location, sniffing the ground like a dog. I ducked down and waited until the beast entered the aisle.

_"Tsuyosa!"_

I punched as it blocked, sending us in opposite directions. I regained balance and leaped in the air, aiming a kick at its head. Suddenly it got hold of my leg and swung me around in big circles. Twice I slammed against the shelves until it decided to throw me back to the front doors where my head cracked through the glass.

Black circles popped in my vision. The beast rushed at me with its jaws wide open, until Sasuke punched it in the jaw, sending it flying to the wall.

"Sakura." Uchiha kneeled beside me and helped me sit up. Something warm trickled down my back and blood spilled out of my mouth.

The Former Human materialized in front of us and shot a red tentacle at Sasuke's head. I jumped up and knocked it away; more blood spewed out of my mouth. Uchiha grabbed the vampire and threw it somewhere before catching me as I fell to the ground.

"Let's get you somewhere else," he said. Suddenly, I was lifted into his arms and taken to the back of the store in a flash. Sasuke laid me against a wall and I placed my hands over the back of my head.

"_Naosu._"

As my head spat out the shards of glass, Sasuke kept watch, peeking out the corner every so often with his Kekkei Genkai.

There was that feeling again, the relaxation. Under circumstances like these, I would be tense, ready to strike the moment that ugly beast stuck its nose in. But not this time. My muscles were relaxed, making it easier to heal, and I was more focused on my wounds then watching for the vampire.

Uchiha stood up. "Stay here," he said, and ran around the corner, a ball of lightning in his hand.

_No need to tell me twice. _ The wound on my head was not completely closed, but I had significantly reduced the amount of blood flow. Sasuke left a strip of cloth from his shirt so I wrapped it around my head. Now that I've stopped the biggest outer wound, I can now focus on any internal bleeding.

I was about to start when a red tendril wrapped around my wrist and roughly jerked me to my feet.

"So here's where he's hiding you," said the Former Human as he walked into the storage. "What's so important about you anyways? You're not even a vampire. We overrule you, we even over rule ourselves. I control that beast vampire because I'm higher, but that monster could play around with you before it eats you. So why would a pureblood, the highest of all, protect weak, little, you?"

"Maybe you need something to remind you that you were once human." I wrapped my fingers around the red stream and cried, "_Rai!" _Electricity sparked all over my body, but they did not hurt me as much as the Former Human, who dropped me and retreated blood back into his body.

"That's it." With lightning still crackling around him, he staggered towards me. He raised an arm, red streams swirling around it and forming red claws. "Now die!"

Another pair of claws appeared. These claws were a foot long and pierced the Former Human in the neck.

"Big mistake," growled Uchiha and he took the vampire's head off, turning it to dust. "Did he hurt you?" he asked.

"No," I replied, not looking at his eyes. I kneeled by the dust where the body fell and scooped some up into a container. "For the Hunters," I said to answer his somewhat puzzled face.

Together, we walked out of the storage and headed for the door, passing the beast vampire whose bottom was in the air and its head stuck in a cooler.

"Nice," I said, picking up my helmet.

"Hn."

We checked if anyone was outside. Luckily, no one was out there but I could hear the faint sound of sirens. I double checked to make sure and walked out. My phone, which surprisingly stayed in tack, rang.

"This is Hunter 794301 and Hunter 948765. We are approaching your location and expect to be there at 23:32."

"Understood." I took a quick look at the clock and it said eleven-thirty. "Uchiha, two Hunters are coming here in two minutes. Head back to the school and I'll meet you there after I've taken care of them."

"No."

"These are Hunters. They'll kill you once they see you," I reminded him.

"No."

"Get it through that big duck-butt head of yours. Just go, I'll handle them myself."

"And leave you alone when you're injured?" He placed a hand over the back of his head. "No way."

"Fine. You go to the corner on the other side of the block and wait for me."

Sasuke gave a hesitant nod and sped off to the designated meeting place. Moments after he left, two men in black Hunter uniforms approached.

"Hunter 794301," said the bigger of the two. Both had the top half of their face concealed by the helmet's mask. "Hunter 012601?"

I nodded and briefed the two on what happened, lying about anything concerning Sasuke. I gave them the container with the Former Human's remains and pointed where the beast vampire was.

"Are those new helmets?" I asked, eyeing the wire attached.

"Yes, part of a federal grant given to us recently," said Hunter 794301. "You've been issued one too."

"Have you taken care of all injuries?" asked the smaller man.

"Most except the internal bleeding." I pressed the palms of my hands together. "_Naosu." _I spread the spell all over my body, healing scratches along with the internal bleeding. While the two Hunters went over the situation, I healed for a couple more minutes before the sirens pulled in front of the store.

"You three, hands up!" barked an officer through a megaphone. Cops got behind their cars and pointed guns at us.

All three of us placed our hands together then said, "_Wasureru._" With the three of us combined, the spell reached farther distances. Areas with people close by, where they most likely had spotted me and Uchiha fighting, was covered, and hopefully some people who ran away before we came.

The police collapsed to the ground. Hunter 948765 turned to me and said, "We can take care of the rest from here. Your work is done."

I nodded again and walked to the corner on the other side. As we had agreed, Sasuke was there, leaning against a fence with his elbows hanging over the edge. When he saw me coming, he stood up straight.

"I'm done," I said. He rolled his eyes. "And I got my injuries healed too." I showed him the closed wound on the back of my head. I looked down, my hand rubbing my arm. "Thanks, for getting me out of there. " I felt my face heat up as I spoke. "I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't stepped in."

Sasuke remained silent for a really long time. I sincerely hoped he wouldn't start boasting. I had thanked him twice now for saving my life. The last thing I needed was a bloodsucker to start thinking himself so high and mighty and think I'm weak. I can't be weak.

He placed a hand on my head. "Try not to get yourself killed next time," he said and started in the direction of the school. "It's late, we should head back."

At least he's not boasting. I walked behind him back to the school. Still, I can't forget my mistakes in battle. With Uchiha, I've gotten sloppy, getting unnecessarily injured and needing him to come to my rescue. I cannot be like that.

I need to be stronger.

* * *

**Hi. Long time no see. . . . Please don't hurt me.**

**Rai: Lightning**

**Thanks again for the wonderful beta-ing, xXAsuka-chanXx**


	12. Part 11

Part 11

January past by very quickly. Before I knew it, it was the middle of February. The amount of school work had piled up more than ever which made me lose track of time; I think my report to the Council was a bit early too. At least some atmosphere change helped organize events back in order for me.

"Happy Valentine's Day," said Hinata, holding a red heart-shaped card with a piece of chocolate neatly taped on top.

"Oh. Thank you, and happy Valentine's Day to you too." The simple card had "Happy Valentine's Day!" written in pink gel ink, but I happily took it to my locker as I munched the chocolate. As soon as I opened my locker, a bunch of pink, red, and white papers tumbled down. All of them had "Happy Valentine's Day, Sakura!" written on them.

"Wow," was all I could say as I crouched down to pick them up.

"Seems you've got a lot of admirers," said Hinata as she too crouched down and picked them up.

"I'm sure you got some too."

"J-just some," she said, blushing. "Y-yours look like they're anonymous."

"G-good morning, S-Sakura-senpai," came a voice.

The voice belonged to a boy, most likely a freshman, with his hands behind his back as he rocked on the balls of his feet.

"Good morning," I returned.

The boy immediately blushed a very deep shade of red. He stared determinedly at the ground, and held a card in my face. "H-Happy V-Valentine's Day!" A soon as the card was in my hands, he sped away.

"Thank you?" I said, even though he was too far to hear. I opened my locker and placed it on top of the small pile already forming. Another person, this time a girl, handed me one. "Why do they admire me?" I don't see how they could. I practically took pictures of certain people in the beginning of the year and watched others for any signs of certain traits. I pretty much could have been scaring everyone those first few days.

"I think it's because of how fearless you are," Hinata answered. "People saw how you stood up to Ino all by yourself and didn't show any sign of fear. Lots of people would be amazed. I know I am."

I gathered the last of the last of the cards and once they had returned to my locker, me and Hinata went our separate ways to class. When my lunch period came, I made a small trek to my locker to get some chocolates. The pile had grown a little since I was last here. I stuffed some sweets in the pockets of my blazer and headed to the cafeteria. Along the way, I met three boys who looked happy to see me.

"Hi, Sakura-san," one said, waving at me. "Did you get my card? It was the one with the bags of kisses."

"Oh that one, yeah," I replied, recalling the baggy bulging with the candy.

"Hah! But I'm sure she noticed mine first," said the one in the middle. "So where're you going now, Sakura-san?"

"Cafeteria. I have fifth period lunch, so excuse me . . ." I walked around the trio and continued down the hall.

"Let us go with you," said the last one. He reminded me of Gai. I think his name is Lee. "The halls are empty, and anyone bad could be around."

_**I can take care of myself, thank you very much. The only bad one is Uchiha because he's a freakin' bloodsucker! **_My Inner replied. "No thanks, I'll be fine."

"Your fearlessness never ceases to amaze me, Sakura-san!" exclaimed Lee.

"You think _that _is something amazing?" said Karin, walking towards us. She approached me. "Please. Look at her forehead; it's _huge, _right girls?" Two girls appeared and agreed excitedly.

Behind me, the boys loudly began to protest.

I sighed. "Karin, I got to go to lunch."

"Your lunch can wait. You know the only person who is amazing is Sasuke-kun. Why? Because he is so hot," Karin said, getting a dreamy look in her eyes when she said Uchiha's name along with the others. "He is so perfect."

_Until you find out what he really is, _I mentally replied.

Sasuke appeared from around the corner and Karin dragged him over to prove her point.

"See?" she said, gesturing towards his body then leaning her head on his shoulder. "An amazing man worthy of our love."

I struggled to keep my laughter; I barely managed to keep a straight face. Uchiha on the other hand looked clearly annoyed and shook Karin off.

"He certainly does not seem to appreciate it," said the first boy. A fight soon erupted between the trios and it was as if me and Sasuke didn't exist.

Sasuke tapped my shoulder. "We should get out of here, now."

With a nod, I followed him around the others and made a quick getaway; I don't think they noticed we left. We arrived at the back of the school; nearby was a shortcut to the language wing but you had to go outside, and down the hall was the cafeteria.

"Here." Sasuke handed me a package of clips; he kept his face turned away from me.

I scrutinized the clips he just randomly pulled out. They were plain white, no special designs or anything. What are these for and why is he giving them to me?

"Why ―"

"Just take it," he said, practically shoving them in my hand. Then he started for the exit.

"Hey, stop!" I yelled and just in time too. Outside, despite there being snow, it was sunny. If a vampire ― doesn't matter if it's a beast, Former Human, or pureblood ― stepped out into the sun, they would burn and disintegrate into ash. As much as I would like to kill Uchiha, we made a deal to help each other. "You know you can't go out there."

"_Taiyou kara hago shinasai." _He swirled his middle and index finger in front of him, but nothing happened. He walked out the door and did not burn.

* * *

I closed my math textbook and stored all my homework in my bag, glad that it was over for today. Outside, the moon was waning, turning dark after its full stage almost a week ago. When me and Sasuke patrolled the area, a disappearance happened. The next day, a body, torn beyond recognition was found and now a warning has been sent out saying a serial killer was on the loose. That, of course, greatly affected our curfew. Sasuke had reminded me that the attacks this year were significantly less than last, but I didn't really listen. A loss of a life is still a loss of a life, especially when they were killed like that. It'll be hard for relatives to recognize the victim.

There was a knock on my door and when I opened it, Uchiha was there. "I need a drink," he said, pointing to his eyes which were red.

I let him in and dug out of my drawers the extra blood pack he gave me. I cut off a corner and handed it to him, then watched as he finished the pack's contents. When he finished, as he was wiping his arm with his mouth, I noticed a red tinge around his irises.

"Your eyes still have a little bit of red in them," I pointed. "You sure that's enough?"

"It's fine, my body just isn't full," he replied.

I took a kunai and wiped off the Hunter symbol. It was now a regular kunai. I placed it against the vein in my arm before Uchiha's hand suddenly wrapped around my wrist.

"You don't need to do that," he said.

"You may be in control, but I'd rather have you full than risk your appetite," I removed my wrist and slid the blade across.

"Sakura, seriously ―"

I held out my bleeding wrist and he pushed it away. "Just drink," I said.

He looked at me for a moment, the red glow of his eyes flickered. With a sigh he ran a hand through his hair before saying, "At least put it in a cup."

Lucky for him, I had a water bottle I purchased from the school earlier. After emptying out its contents, I squeezed some of the blood into the bottle until it was one-fifth full and handed it to Sasuke. I healed the cut and watched as he scrutinized the bottle, then drink my life force. When he finished, the red outlines of his eyes disappeared, leaving his normal black eyes.

"Good. Now your thirst is fully satisfied," I said as I threw away the bottle.

Sasuke flipped my wrist and examined the spot where the kunai had a cut. He rubbed his thumb over it gently while his other hand curled into a fist.

"Thanks," he muttered before standing up. "But I'm serious, Sakura. Don't do that again." His gaze flickered to my arm before he walked out.

* * *

**Somewhat of a filler chapter. But some important stuff did happen, right? Oh, you'll see what I mean.  
**

**Thanks again to my amazing beta, xXAsuka-chanXx!**


	13. Part 12

Part 12

It was weeks after I gave the blood pack to Sasuke for the second time, and now I kept a second blood transfusion pack in reserve. Sasuke still seemed angry at me for doing that even long after. Why would he be so concerned about me keeping my blood? By political means, we were enemies; we don't care if we kill each other.

In those weeks, I had pretty much caught up with everything. I submitted two reports with rough drafts created for until the end of the year, caught up in all my school work and on top of werewolf patrols. I was prepared for anything, except maybe for just one day.

"Sakura-chan, you're sixteen, right?" asked Naruto in Pre-Calculus.

I stopped writing in my notebook. I did some quick calculations of the time and said, "No." Then, without Iruka looking, I took out my cellphone and looked at the date. It said March twenty-eight. "Today's my birthday."

"Really? And just when I thought I had already caught up to everyone," he said. "Hey, it's Sakura-chan's birthday!"

I continued with the day in a daze. Today is my birthday. I am now seventeen. Back in Cazom, when I realized I was a year older, I usually realized it a day or two late and there is no celebration or recognition for being older there. In just my first hour class, everyone wished me a happy birthday.

"Happy Birthday, Sakura-chan," said Hinata.

"Thanks," I said for the umpteenth time today, but I was really happy. "News travels fast, doesn't it?"

"Yep. Choji-san told me at lunch. Can I come after school to celebrate?"

How long has it been since I celebrated a birthday? Three years? No, ten years. Surely before that night my mother was killed, when holidays were recognized and celebrated with families, before killing and searching for the one who destroyed it all. So maybe my delight was too much to contain or it was involuntary, but with a wide smile, I replied, "Yes."

* * *

There was a knock on my door and Hinata entered with a container of frosted cupcakes. She said she made them in her Culinary Arts class which was why they were still warm.

"Thanks, Hinata-chan," I said, licking the pink icing with a smile on my face.

Hinata giggled and watched as I happily ate the cupcake. "Um, can I ask you something?"

"Hmm?" I wiped the crumbs off my mouth.

"How did you become a Hunter? I've heard that the Hunter Society requires all their members to eliminate all emotion. And I see you able to fully express happiness and anger. You don't seem like what a Hunter is supposed to be."

I set the wrapper beside me and turned my gaze to the ground. "When I became a part of the Hunter Society, I was only seven. Ten years ago, my family was attacked by a vampire."

I tried to explain how it all happened, but with me suddenly driving into these memories, I'm very sure it was all confusing. But I remember it so clearly. Sometime after the event, I ended up at the police station, I don't remember how though. Anyways, I was sitting in the police station and a man approached me. His left eye was covered in bandages and he was missing an arm. He sat next to me and for a while, he was silent, then said:

"You could find the killer who caused all this. You just have to come with me."

Danzo gave me two days to make my decision. I thought about it during that time, asking myself could I really find the man with the three comma-like pupils? What if the guy's a stranger wanting to kidnap me? But will I get any answers if I stay here?

Finally after two days, I ran away from the police station and joined Danzo at the train station.

"I will go with you," I said, "I want . . . I want to kill the person who did this to my family!"

Three years later, the Council found my father and moved him to Cazom where they've been treating him of his insanity in hopes of discovering the attacker's identity.

"When I joined, the Council was experimenting. They wanted to see if someone could enter at later ages. Five or younger is the ideal age. But since I entered at the age of seven, I had already begun to recognize things that affected my emotions, but I proved to be a very good Hunter, in fact one of the best I've ever seen. The one thing that hindered me was my inability to suppress my emotions.

"Of course, they tried other kids, to see if the results will be the same or even better. They all failed and so were disposed of. There was debate about whether to keep me or not too, but with how good my skills were, Danzo was able to persuade the Council to let me stay. In reality, however, I'm just a failed test subject to them."

You know, sometimes I wonder if this is all just a dream. Some horribly long nightmare that I can wake up from, be seven again and be with my mother and father. Unfortunately, I only need to see my dad in his own world and the dog chain that hangs around my neck to remind me it is reality. On the front of the dog tag is my Hunter ID, the Hunter seal and the date I joined. But on the back, scratched on, is my real name, Haruno Sakura, and a date. June Fourteenth. I placed a fist to my forehead and clenched my teeth. I hate remembering that date . . .

"You've been alone for a really long time, haven't you?" said Hinata.

"Yeah."

"What are you gonna do after you get your revenge?"

"I dunno. If I die, then I die. If I live . . . then I guess I live."

Both of us were silent for a long time before Hinata broke it. "I-I'm sorry. I should've thought better than to ask you that. It must be really painful. I'm really sorry, Sakura."

To say "it's okay," or "it's alright" would be a complete lie. Still, I wanted her to know that I understand and accept her apology, so I placed one hand on top of hers and gave it a squeeze. I threw away the cupcake wrapper and said, "Are we gonna celebrate my birthday or what?"

Hinata was already in her normal clothes so it was just me who had to change. Once I had my jacket on, I opened the door and almost stepped on an upright, folded piece of paper. It was a simple white card that said:

**Happy Seventeenth Birthday.**

"Who's that from?" asked Hinata.

"I don't know; it's anonymous." I flipped through the card, looking for any piece of identification.

"Maybe from an admirer."

"Probably. I've already gotten a couple cards from them already. C'mon, let's go." I tossed the card on top of my desk where it lay on top of my other birthday cards.

* * *

**Sorry this is late, things are getting busy again. An entire chapter dedicated to Sakura's character. For those who have read this story when it first came out, I changed her beginning age to sixteen because if I left it at seventeen then when she *spoiler*graduates she would be a super senior*spoiler* Oh and if it isn't clear, June Fourteenth is the day of the attack.**

**Thanks to my wonderful beta xXAsuka-chanXx!  
**


	14. Part 13

Part 13

The next time I attended a music concert was in late April. It was the orchestra's spring concert and I'm glad to say no vampire interfered during the whole thing. There was improvement in the Philharmonic's playing, but of course the real show was in the Symphony, though Uchiha did not have another solo. I noticed that his cello now was black instead of traditional golden brown. When I asked him where he got it afterwards, he told me it was a gift from his teacher before putting it away, as if it was the most precious thing in his life. After that we really did not talk much.

Then with April gone, it was May, the last full month left in the school year. It kind of makes me sad that the year is almost done. Sure it could have made a better impression on me in the beginning and the ridiculous amount of homework could have been less ridiculous, but all in all, it was fun. Here, I went to school, ate at restaurants, made some friends and enemies too. Here was where I could be a normal girl again.

"Prom?" I asked one day while walking to Chemistry. "Why would we go to prom?"

"Oh, but it's fun," said Hinata, "there's music, dancing, and you could be with friends ―"

"But what about school work?"

"The teachers won't assign any homework before then. You don't need to ask anyone out. The two of us can go. I-I mean not together b-but ―" she blushed very bright red and vigorously shook her head. "P-please, Sakura-chan? This is the first time I have a free day. Please?"

There was no full moon Saturday, the day the dance was supposed to be, so I was relieved of that, but a vampire could be attracted to the crowd of students and I want to make sure a certain someone didn't take this as a free for all feeding. Besides, the way Hinata begged me, I had to give in and agree to go.

Early Saturday, Hinata was at my dorm with two dresses, one for me and one for her. I showered myself while Hinata worked on her hair. After I was done and my hair had dried, Hinata worked on mine, combing and sticking hairpins into my pink locks.

"I really wish your hair wasn't so short," she said after an hour, a hairpin in her mouth.

Finally after what felt like an eternity, my hair was finished. Next was my makeup. Fortunately, we decided to go simple on this one. I sat for another ten minutes as one layer of foundation, eye shadow, mascara and lip-gloss were applied to my face. Later I slipped on my dress as Hinata did her makeup.

From the bathroom mirror, a beautiful girl stared back at me. Her hair was pulled back into a loose but elegant bun with two black chopsticks that poked though; locks of her pink hair were swept to the left side of her face. The eye shadow and mascara worked really well to bring out the green of her eyes. The straps of her white dress were not too tight and not too loose, and the skirt flowed to just above her knees. Behind her back and around her arms was a silk white scarf.

"Amazing," I said.

"Thank you." Hinata stood beside me. "Though I wish I could fix this." She stroked the right side of my head to show strands of my hair that hung sloppily. She held up one of her clips. "I could've used this, but the color would have thrown everything off."

"Actually, I think I might have something for that." I went to my dresser and rummaged through everything until I pulled out what I was looking for. The unopened package of clips Uchiha gave me on Valentine's Day. I opened it and handed them to Hinata. She took out two of them and gingerly attached them to my hair.

"Perfect," she said.

I slipped on a pair of half-inch high heels and waited as Hinata put on her dress. When she came out, the upper body of her dress was white with a black V-shaped strap and the lower part was a black that fell gracefully to her knees. Around her waist was a sating black ribbon. Hinata's dark hair was wavy and two braids wrapped around her head, held back by one of her clips. She reminded me of a princess.

"Well, your Majesty, are you ready?" I said, playing into the joke.

Immediately she blushed, but laughed anyways. "C'mon, let's go." She grabbed her purse and together we headed to prom.

There was no limo or fancy car to ride in. Fortunately, the prom was only two buildings away and many groups and couples had decided to walk there too.

"Hinata-chan, you know how to dance, right?" I asked. I was worried that if she didn't know, she would just stand by the wall and not have any fun.

"Yes."

"Oh, that's good."

"But it's more of ballroom dancing, like the waltz. I never learned how to dance today's moves."

"Hey, that's not so bad. A lot of people have a hard time dancing those kinds, that why they resort to swinging and kicking like maniacs."

Hinata covered her mouth to suppress a giggle, though I could tell she was having a hard time with it. We reached the building and inside, the ballroom was decorated with colors of dark blue and silver. Apparently the theme was supposed to be a "starry night" or something. I looked through the crowd. Sasuke was not there.

Me and Hinata walked around for a while, greeted by many people who offered to dance with us. I declined and Hinata was too shy to say yes or no.

"Hello, ladies. Wow, you look beautiful tonight," said Naruto. He had on an orange shirt that was neatly smoothed out and tucked into a pair of black slacks and a black vest on top.

"Hi, Naruto," I said.

"H-hello, N-Naruto-k-kun," stammered Hinata, twiddling her fingers. "You look n-nice t-tonight. I-I mean y-you always . . ." Her words turned into an inaudible murmur.

"Thank you, Hinata," he said, grinning at her. "I finally have a chance to go to prom. You know, it's kinda darker than the other dances. I went to homecoming once and the whole thing was horrible."

Naruto now joined us in walking around. I talked to Naruto most of the time and I tried to bring Hinata into the conversation but she gave small answers before going completely silent again.

"You must be getting really bored by now," I said. "I mean you'd probably rather be dancing than just walking and talking."

"Who? Me? No way," he replied, "I don't mind talking to you guys. Besides ―" he placed a hand on the back of his head and a sheepish smile spread across his face "― I don't really know how to dance."

"Oh, well Hinata-chan knows how," I said. There was a little "eep!" from behind and Hinata pulled me away from Naruto.

"Sakura-chan, what're you doing?" she hissed.

"Take this as a chance to get to know him," I answered. I pushed Hinata towards Naruto. "She can teach you how. Just guide him through a slow dance." I added the last part in a whisper.

"Oh. O-okay." Naruto took one of her hands and awkwardly put the other on her waist. They moved around slowly, one step at a time. A couple times, Naruto's foot covered Hinata's and he quickly apologized but she miraculously waved it off and continued teaching him how to slow dance. At one point, Hinata looked at me and beamed.

Happy for her, I decided to leave them alone. From the buffet, I grabbed a glass of punch and walked outside onto the patio. The sky was clear, with many stars but no moon. A couple yards away was a small pond followed by a forest, but it looked so dark I had a hard time discerning between the two. A shadow moved by the pond and I barely made out the spikes jutting from someone's head.

"Sasuke?" I squinted.

"Whose there?" That was definitely Uchiha's voice.

"It's me, Sakura." I waved at him. In a blur he was already on the patio in only his normal dark clothes.

"You're wearing the clips," he said slowly, staring right at me. "I heard you needed those."

"Yeah, they're really nice, so thank you. I was here with Hinata but she's dancing and I thought I'd get some fresh air." After a couple minutes, I began rubbing my arm. "Why do you keep looking at me like that?"

Sasuke blinked and turned to the pond, though I could've sworn I saw a little smirk.

"So why aren't you here?"

"Please, I barely survive the crowds every day," he said, leaning against the railing.

We remained silent after that, just watching the sky. The music from inside fluctuated from fast to slow songs constantly. Sometimes, a couple would come to the patio, but I think they hardly noticed us.

I set down my drink and said, "Hey, do you want to dance? It'll at least give us something to do." He frowned at me, so I added, "If you're worried about me stepping on your feet, don't; I'm not clumsy. But ―" I held out my hand to him "― you may have to lead. It's been a long time since I last danced."

After a moment, Sasuke took my outstretched hand and laid his other on my waist while I slid mines to his shoulder. We moved across the patio slowly, me feet following his, making a soft _clack!_ The last time I danced like this was with my father and back then I had to stand on his feet in order to keep up with him. With Sasuke, I definitely couldn't stand on his feet, but he moved slowly enough for me. Sometimes I even did a little twirl.

"This is nice," I said. The music was now very slow, which helped it out.

"Aah," he agreed, a slightly odd tone in his voice.

We danced a little while longer, even after the song had stopped. My toes were getting scrunched up and I know we should stop, but I didn't _want _to stop. The way how the lights gave off a soft glow, the way how his arm was slightly around my waist, like a protective barrier. I don't know how or why, but I wanted to freeze this moment forever.

"Mingling with the humans again, are we, little brother?"

A dark silhouette of a man sauntered into the light. He looked so much like Sasuke that they had to be brothers, the only difference was definable bags creasing underneath his eyes.

"What're you doing here, Itachi?" growled Sasuke, placing himself in front of me as if he were a shield.

"Just checking on my little brother, seeing if he's doing okay and following the rules. Though it seems ―" the older Uchiha's eyes stared right past Sasuke and at me "―he hasn't learned his lesson."

"Get the hell outta here." Sasuke charged at his older brother, but Uchiha got him in the gut and flung him to the forest.

"Sasuke!" I yelled, gripping the railing and preparing to jump.

Suddenly, Itachi was right in front of me. His eyes changed and I was stark-still as I stared back into a pair of red eyes with three comma-like pupils. "All you have seen is not real," he said, never blinking.

It was as if all the vision in my left eye disappeared and replaced with images of familiar people. I had collapsed on the ground and people were surrounding me; Hinata, Naruto, classmates, and even old friends from long ago. Worst of all, there were my parents. My father, his green eyes full of concern instead of a dazed distance, helping me sit up. My mother, alive and breathing and she was holding my hand and I could swear she was talking to me, trying to comfort me and tell me everything will be alright like I was seven again. Through my right eye, I could see I was on my knees, my fingers pressing into the cement. In my left, my father was lifting me up, marks of his insanity gone from his face. No, _these _things I'm seeing are not real. They are not real. They are not real. They are not real . . .

_"HANO'O!"_

Embers and heat reached me and I knew a great wall of blue fire had erupted. The illusion disappeared and I pulled out the kunai I had brought, then I made a beeline to the older Uchiha, who stood over Sasuke, ice bursting from all over. I didn't realize I was using the Ice spell too.

I placed the kunai against his neck. "Never . . . do that . . . again," I breathed, losing the fight to hold back my tears that were not coming from the heat, but from the things he made me see. From behind, I could see ice leaking into his veins from my kunai.

"How ―" began Itachi.

"I said never do that again, you hear me!" I screamed. "You bastard!" I swiped the kunai at his throat but he jumped away just in time.

_ "HANTÂ NO HANKETSU!"_

I flung power and the kunai at him. Itachi dodged the white power wave, but the kunai slashed across his abdomen. I was about to charge at him again, but Sasuke jumped in front and stopped me.

"Let me go," I roared, "I'm gonna kill him!" I struggled against his arms till I couldn't and sobbed into his chest.

"Don't worry about me, Hunter," said Itachi, standing up and while clutching his bleeding side. "I'll let her go since she's a Hunter. But Sasuke, you better be careful, unlike before."

_Before? _What did he mean by 'before'? Maybe he was the one who made my father go insane. His Kekkei Genkai could very well have driven my father to the world he is trapped in now.

And just like when I first discovered Sasuke's true identity, I asked, "Have you ever killed anyone with your gift?"

"No," he said. "I can't kill the beings I once was." Huge bat wings burst from his back and soon he was a shadow in the clear night sky.

The moment Itachi was out of sight, Sasuke held me out at arm's length. "Why did you tell him you were a Hunter?" He sounded infuriated at my actions.

I wiped my eyes dry and replied indignantly. "So what? What's so important about him finding out I'm a Hunter?" I stared back at him for a few moments. "You should have let me kill him." Those things he placed in my mind are still fresh. "He-he made me see my mom . . . and . . . and my mom has been dead for ten years and she felt so real." Oh great, the water works are back.

After a long moment of crying, Sasuke pulled me into his embrace, and my tears soaked his shirt. "Um, there, there," he said, patting my head.

That made me smile. "You know, you suck at this kind of thing, Sasuke." I sniffed and wiped my eyes again. "Sorry for showing I'm a Hunter." Though I still don't see why I should be.

"It's okay," he finally said, "My brother won't tell anyone; he's trustworthy." He took off his sweatshirt and gave it to me. "Let's go back."

I nodded and zipped on the black hoodie, wiping my eyes on the sleeves and headed back to the building. I find it a miracle that I was able to break through the illusion. And the tears. I looked at my hands and there were black streaks from when I wiped my eyes. Sorry, Hinata.

We were almost to the building when a chaperone burst out.

"Are you two alright? We saw a fire and brought everyone in before calling the fire department."

"Uh, yeah, we're okay," I replied. "I saw Uchiha-san walking by when the fire surrounded him. I almost thought he died," I lied to make up for the tear stains.

"Okay, you better get back in the building. We won't let anyone out for the remainder of the dance." The chaperone escorted us back to the building. Once Sasuke was inside, girls immediately flocked to him, pushing me out of the way to get to "their Sasuke-kun."

I glanced at him for a moment before I was tackled into a tight hug by Hinata.

"Oh, God. You're okay. I-I saw the fire and I knew you had gone outside, and when I didn't see you, I-I thought you got caught in that and ― where'd you get the hoodie?"

"Oh, this is mine," I lied. "It was a little chilly outside before I caused that fire." I reluctantly slipped off the black hoodie and secretly used a shrinking spell and stored it away. "I ran into a vampire and had a little fight with it. Oh, sorry about all your hard work." I showed her the smeared makeup on my hands and eyes.

Hinata looked at it for a while then said, "I can fix this." She grabbed her purse off a table and started for the bathroom.

"Umm . . . Hinata?" came Naruto. I was about to leave, but Hinata's grip tightened. Naruto bit his lip and blushed. "Thanks, for teaching me how to dance. I had a lot of fun tonight. Umm, I was thinking, uh . . ." he rubbed his finger against his cheek. "Would you like to go out with me?"

At that moment, Hinata's face glowed bright red. She twiddled her fingers with mine. "Y-y-y," was all she could say until I bumped her with my shoulder. "Y-yes! I'd like to, Naruto-kun."

"Great! I'll pick you up later, 'kay? Right now, I gotta save teme. See ya, Hinata-chan!" He headed off towards Uchiha, but not before jumping in the air and giving a great whoop.

I gave a half-hearted laugh and followed Hinata to the restrooms. As she fixed my makeup and hair, a big smile spread across her face, though I was cautious of the fact that she kept rocking back and forth like she was going to fall. After she finished, she wobbled out, while I stayed in front of the mirror. I close my eyes and those things reappeared. As I fast walked out of the bathroom, one thing echoed in my mind: _What kind of powers do these Uchihas have?_

* * *

**Last chapter for awhile; things are starting to get busy once again. I may move to monthly, depending on if I can get things to my beta. Hope you guys had a wonderful summer!**

**Hano'o: Blaze**

**Hantâ no Hanketsu: Hunter's Judgement**

**As always, I'd like to thanks my awesome beta xXAsuka-chanXx!  
**


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